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Stone Deterioration of the Western Wall: Chemical and Mineralogical Characterization of Salts

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Advanced Nondestructive and Structural Techniques for Diagnosis, Redesign and Health Monitoring for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage (TMM 2023)

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Abstract

Buildings and monuments made of carbonate rocks exhibit different rates of erosion. Chemo-mechanical processes are suggested as the main processes, yet quantifying them over long term periods is challenging. To constrain the variety of parameters controlling long-term limestone weathering, we studied the Western Wall, a Herodian-period edifice located in Jerusalem, Israel. The wall represents the outer boundary of the Herodian Temple precinct. Construction of the Herodian Temple precinct is thought to have been completed during the first century CE, and the wall is built entirely of locally quarried limestone. Deterioration of the limestone blocks is mainly associated with human activity and natural disasters, and include the formations of cracks and collapse from the wall. Applying non-invasive, semi-quantitative methods such as portable X-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectrometers, provide chemical information which allows to characterize and map the different materials that lead to the weathering of the limestone blocks. In this work, we find high concentrations of sulfur and chlorine at specific locations along the wall. These elements suggest the presence of salts (e.g., gypsum and soluble chlorides) as one of the promoters of the limestone weathering. Focusing on an ashlar that recently collapsed from the wall to the visitors’ area, our finding indicates the presence of gypsum in the remaining broken half, based on Infrared spectroscopy and XRF analysis. In addition, a survey of other Herodian stones, and later periods joint mortars and plasters that are found adhered to the wall, revealed that gypsum was present only in specific areas on the Wall. This elemental mapping suggests that the salts may originate from several sources (e.g., soil pollution, leakages, and sewage) and is not evenly distributed. The obtained results indicate on the possible use of non-invasive, semi-quantitative methods for detecting potential areas that are more susceptible to weathering in built heritage.

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Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thanks Dr.Yuval Baruch, for fruitful discussions, Raanan Kislev, Avi Mashiah, Yoram Saad, and Yossi Vaknin. This research was financially supported by the Israel Antiquity Authority.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Artifacts Treatment and Conservation Department, Israel Antiquities Authority, 91004, Jerusalem, Israel

    Meidad Shor, Aliza van Zuiden, Nimrod Wieler & Yotam Asscher

  2. Department of Conservation of Material Culture, School of Archaeology and Maritime Cultures, University of Haifa, 3498838, Haifa, Israel

    Yotam Asscher

Authors
  1. Meidad Shor
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  2. Aliza van Zuiden
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  3. Nimrod Wieler
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  4. Yotam Asscher
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Contributions

YA, MS and AVZ conceptualized the study; MS, YA and AVZ performed the field and lab work; MS, NW and YA analyzed the data; YA, NW, MS and AVZ wrote the paper.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yotam Asscher .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Fraunhofer Institute for Nondestructive, Saarland University of Applied Sciences, Saarbrücken, Germany

    Ahmad Osman

  2. National Technical University of Athens, Athens, Greece

    Antonia Moropoulou

  3. National Technical University of Athens, Athens, Greece

    Kyriakos Lampropoulos

Ethics declarations

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Appendix

Appendix

Supplementary Material

Table S1 The result of the analysis of the samples throughout the analytical method of the salts. The table compose of the microscopic observation to groups by the aggregates, the chemical dataset for all the investigated samples in two internal calibrations of the XRF (Geo-Exploration and Mudrock Dual), the ratio between the sulfates to carbonate by the FTIR peak shape analysis and electrical conductivity values. LOD refers to the limit of detection and N.A refers to data which is not available.

    

pXRF results

FTIR

 

Sample number

Location

Material

Description

Ca

S (Geo-exploration)

S (mudrock)

S:Ca

Cl (Geo- exploration)

SO4:CO3

EC

1

Main prayer

plaza

(Sect. 5)

M

T4M

29.5

0.1

 <LOD

0.0

0.1

0.1

N.A

2

M

T4M

28.2

0.1

 <LOD

0.0

0.1

0.5

N.A

3

M

T4M

26.4

0.1

0.0

0.0

0.1

0.0

N.A

4

M

T4M

27.7

0.3

0.0

0.0

0.1

0.2

N.A

5

M

T4M

24.0

0.0

 <LOD

0.0

0.0

0.1

N.A

6

M

T4M

31.8

0.1

 <LOD

0.0

0.2

0.1

N.A

7

M

T4M

31.9

0.0

 <LOD

0.0

0.1

0.0

N.A

8

M

 

24.5

0.6

0.4

0.0

0.3

0.3

N.A

9

M

 

28.2

0.2

 <LOD

0.0

0.2

0.1

N.A

10

Ezrat Israel

prayer area

(Sect. 1)

P

T1P

37.7

0.0

 <LOD

0.0

0.2

0.1

N.A

11

P

T1P

 <LOD

N.A

 <LOD

0.0

N.A

N.A

39.8

12

P

T2P

23.4

7.2

6.6

1.0

0.7

0.1

14.4

13

P

T2P

26.8

1.3

0.9

0.5

1.6

N.A

16.3

14

P

T1P

21.6

1.2

1.1

0.2

2.0

0.1

8.9

15

M

T6M

29.1

0.7

0.5

0.1

0.6

N.A

N.A

16

M

T6M

N.A

N.A

 <LOD

N.A

N.A

N.A

7.1

17

south to

Ezrat Israel

(Sect. 4)

M

T4M

8.0

3.7

3.7

0.2

2.5

1.0

N.A

18

M

T4M

30.2

4.5

4.1

0.1

0.9

0.2

N.A

19

P

T1P

19.4

0.4

0.3

0.0

0.3

0.1

11.1

20

M

T4M

21.2

1.3

1.1

0.1

1.7

0.1

N.A

21

M

T4M

22.6

1.8

1.5

0.1

4.3

0.2

120.4

22

M

T4M

30.3

3.7

3.3

0.1

1.0

0.3

109.7

23

M

T4M

23.5

3.8

3.7

0.2

1.3

0.4

N.A

24

Robinson

arch (section

2)

M

T4M

22.7

0.3

0.1

0.0

0.3

0.3

N.A

25

M

T4M

19.6

0.2

0.1

0.0

0.8

0.3

N.A

26

M

T4M

26.5

0.9

0.9

0.0

0.9

0.1

N.A

27

M

T4M

30.4

0.2

 <LOD

0.0

1.3

0.0

N.A

28

P

T3P

28.2

0.2

 <LOD

0.0

0.5

0.1

12.4

29

P

T3P

22.5

0.1

 <LOD

0.0

0.5

0.1

27.4

30

P

T3P

14.8

0.4

0.6

0.0

1.8

0.1

121.9

31

P

T3P

23.3

0.8

0.7

0.0

1.5

0.1

91.2

32

M

T4M

30.4

0.2

 <LOD

0.0

0.9

0.1

21.5

33

M

T4M

28.4

0.7

0.4

0.0

0.8

0.3

25.8

34

M

T4M

30.4

0.1

 <LOD

0.0

0.6

0.8

N.A

35

M

T4M

26.4

0.1

 <LOD

0.0

0.2

0.0

11.9

36

M

T4M

24.2

0.2

0.1

0.0

0.7

0.1

N.A

37

M

T4M

22.1

0.2

0.0

0.0

0.1

0.0

N.A

38

M

T4M

32.9

0.1

 <LOD

0.0

0.3

0.0

13.9

39

M

T6M

26.9

0.6

0.2

0.0

0.3

0.1

18.9

40

M

T6M

20.4

1.1

0.9

0.1

1.6

1.4

117.3

41

M

T6M

16.2

0.1

0.1

0.0

2.1

0.1

144.8

42

M

T6M

25.2

0.3

0.1

0.0

0.3

0.1

6.5

43

South-West

(Sect. 3)

M

T4M

21.8

0.1

 <LOD

0.0

0.1

0.1

N.A

44

M

T4M

26.5

0.3

0.0

0.0

0.2

0.1

N.A

45

M

T6M

29.8

0.1

 <LOD

0.0

0.3

0.0

9.3

46

M

T5M

29.2

0.4

0.2

0.0

0.3

0.1

N.A

47

M

T5M

27.5

0.9

0.5

0.0

0.8

0.1

8.6

48

M

T5M

29.5

0.1

 <LOD

0.0

0.2

0.0

12.6

49

M

T5M

33.7

0.5

0.2

0.0

0.2

0.0

3.9

50

M

T5M

30.8

0.2

LOD

0.0

0.3

0.2

10.7

51

M

T5M

30.3

0.2

LOD

0.0

0.2

0.1

5.2

52

M

T4M

11.3

0.4

0.3

0.0

0.1

0.1

N.A

53

M

T4M

14.0

0.7

0.6

0.0

1.2

0.2

43.6

54

Section 4

S

CS

23.7

N.A

1.0

0.0

N.A

0.0

N.A

55

S

Control sample

24.8

N.A

0.6

0.0

N.A

0.2

N.A

56

S

Control sample

18.6

N.A

10.0

0.5

N.A

3.0

N.A

57

S

Control sample

19.3

N.A

10.2

0.5

N.A

0.2

N.A

58

S

Control sample

17.1

N.A

0.7

0.0

N.A

0.1

N.A

59

S

Control sample

19.4

N.A

0.3

0.0

N.A

0.0

N.A

60

S

Control sample

18.9

N.A

 <LOD

N.A

N.A

0.1

N.A

61

S

Control sample

2.4

N.A

2.3

0.9

N.A

2.7

N.A

62

S

Control sample

17.5

N.A

18.0

1.0

N.A

7.1

N.A

63

Robinson arch

S

Control sample-core

34.9

 <LOD

N.A

N.A

0.1

0.0

0.6

64

Collapsed stone

S

Control sample

14.3

N.A

13.6

1.0

N.A

0.8

N.A

65

S

Control sample

14.9

N.A

4.0

0.3

N.A

N.A

N.A

66

S

Control sample

5.4

N.A

5.8

1.1

N.A

N.A

N.A

67

Dead Sea

Sa

gypsum control

20.0

25.1

N.A

1.3

 < LOD

10.757

15.5

68

Standard

Sa

sea salt

0.3

 <LOD

N.A

N.A

33.7

0.3

200.0

  1. M = Mortar; P = Plaster; S = Stone; Sa = Salt.
  2. T1P = Plaster with Stone Aggregates; T2P = Plaster with Stone Aggregates and Ash; T3P = Plaster with Stone Aggregates, Ash and Pottery Sherds; T4M = Mortar with Stone Aggregates; T5M = Mortar with Stone Aggregates and Ash; T6M = Mortar with Stone Aggregates, Ash and Pottery

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Shor, M., van Zuiden, A., Wieler, N., Asscher, Y. (2024). Stone Deterioration of the Western Wall: Chemical and Mineralogical Characterization of Salts. In: Osman, A., Moropoulou, A., Lampropoulos, K. (eds) Advanced Nondestructive and Structural Techniques for Diagnosis, Redesign and Health Monitoring for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage. TMM 2023. Springer Proceedings in Materials, vol 33. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-42239-3_14

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