Salt weathering of coastal stone heritage in Mykonos, Greece

One of the most critical challenges for preserving and protecting historical built heritage in coastal regions is the comprehension of the interaction between building materials and seawater or sea spray and its effects in time. This contribution addresses the forms and dynamics of sea salt weathering by considering as case study Mykonos Castle in Greece, built from the 13^th century and now surviving only in its towers, churches, and stone walls, being just a few meters away from the shore or even underwater. The fieldwork and preliminary laboratory activities were arranged for investigating the petrographic characteristics and decay patterns of the main building stones (gneisses, marbles, granitoids, etc.), their in-pore salt content constrained by orientation, height, and distance from the sea, and rate and amount of their surface erosion monitored on site. The findings are expected to help assessing the vulnerability of cultural heritage in coastal regions due to changing environmental stresses, also in view of climate change.

 

Acknowledgements

This study is carried out within the project THETIDA, which has received funding from the European Union's Horizon Europe scheme under the program Culture, Creativity and Inclusive Society (grant agreement no. 101095253).