Evaluation of Weathering Effects Due To Surface and Deep Moisture in a Roman Rock Tomb: Lukianos Monument Konya (turkey)

Abstract

Water is an integral component of direct and indirect decomposition processes that may lead to the deterioration of stone building materials in cultural heritage. Since the deterioration effects caused by water may cause irreversible problems in the whole monument, the detection of water is extremely important. Although there are many methods of moisture measurement (nuclear magnetic resonance, electrical resistance measuring, infrared thermography, radar, moisture meter) in the literature, there is no study in which deep and surface moisture values are evaluated together in monuments. For this purpose, the Lukianos Monument (Beysehir, Konya-Turkey), which was created by carving on the rock surface, was investigated for a better understanding of the causes and development of the deterioration mechanisms of cultural stone heritage using surface moisture (SM) and deep moisture (DM) meters. It was aimed to determine the behavior of surface and subsurface water in the stone material by applying both methods. For this, firstly, deep and surface moisture data were processed on orthophoto obtained from the photographs of the monument. The P-wave velocity (Vp) test was also performed to determine the deterioration effects caused by water, which is mostly present in the form of moisture in structures on the rock. According to the results obtained from the study, contour scaling type deterioration and lower P-wave velocity values were obtained in parts where low DM values were determined in response to high SM values. The development of biological colonizationwas commonly observed in the regions with high moisture (surface and deep) values.