Petrographic and geochemical investigations on the volcanic rocks used in the Punic-Roman archaeological site of Nora (Sardinia, Italy)

The research focuses on the geochemical and petrographic characterisation of volcanics that were used in the Roman city of Nora archaeological site. These rocks formed during the Late Eocene–Miocene orogenic Sardinian magmatic activity (38–15 Ma), were used as construction materials (ashlars, decora...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Environmental earth sciences 2018-08, Vol.77 (16), p.1-19, Article 577
Main Author: Columbu, Stefano
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aluminum oxide
Archaeology
Artefacts
Barium
Biogeosciences
Buildings
Construction
Construction materials
Data processing
Earth and Environmental Science
Earth Sciences
Environmental Science and Engineering
Eocene
exploitation
Factorial analysis
Geochemistry
Geology
Historic buildings & sites
Historic sites
Historical buildings
Hydrology/Water Resources
Miocene
Mortars (material)
Organic chemistry
properties and durability
Provenance
Quarries
Silica
Silicon dioxide
Stone in the Architectural Heritage: from quarry to monuments – environment
Strontium
Terrestrial Pollution
Thematic Issue
Trace elements
Volcanic rocks
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The research focuses on the geochemical and petrographic characterisation of volcanics that were used in the Roman city of Nora archaeological site. These rocks formed during the Late Eocene–Miocene orogenic Sardinian magmatic activity (38–15 Ma), were used as construction materials (ashlars, decorative frame, etc.) and as aggregate in the ancient mortars of some important buildings of Nora (e.g. Roman theatre, first century ad ). Several samples coming from the Roman theatre (taken as study cases) and other ancient buildings and artefacts of Nora village were studied and chemically petrographically analysed. To define their provenance, analytical data of major and trace elements by XRF method were compared with those of several volcanics coming from the sector around the Nora archaeological site and from Sulcis area, frequented in ancient times by Romans. To highlight the geochemical discriminant markers or affinities between the sample populations of volcanics, factorial analysis was used, taking some significant variables: SiO 2 , Na 2 O, K 2 O, L.o.I, Al 2 O 3 , Rb, Ba, Sr. The results of this research allow also defining the aspects of stone quarry extraction and construction technologies used in the Roman period.
ISSN:1866-6280
1866-6299
DOI:10.1007/s12665-018-7744-4