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Application of protective products to “Noto” calcarenite (south-eastern Sicily): a case study for the conservation of stone materials

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Abstract

Noto is an important Baroque urban center in south-eastern Sicily, which was completely reconstructed after the severe earthquake of 1693. Most of its monuments and historic buildings were built in Pietra di Noto stone, a pale cream calcarenite, quarried in outcrops located near the city. This stone, still currently used as building material, is undergoing many forms of alteration and degradation, which cause significant damage to monuments. In this study, three commercial protective products were tested on some Noto calcarenite samples from quarries, with the aim of assessing their protective effectiveness. In particular, petrographic analyses by optical microscopy were carried out for textural characterization of the stone materials. Capillary water absorption, porosimetric and colorimetric procedures, UV radiation and salt crystallization aging tests were performed to better evaluate interactions between protective products and substrate.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to express our gratitude to Gunter Doerhoefer for his editorial guidance and to an anonymous reviewer for constructive comments and suggestions, which certainly contributed to improve the quality of the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Università degli Studi della Calabria, Via Pietro Bucci, cubo 12/B, Arcavacata di Rende, Cosenza, Italy

    Mauro F. La Russa

  2. Dipartimento di Scienze Geologiche, Università degli Studi di Catania, Corso Italia 57, 95129, Catania, Italy

    Germana Barone, Cristina M. Belfiore, Paolo Mazzoleni & Antonino Pezzino

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  1. Mauro F. La Russa
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  2. Germana Barone
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  3. Cristina M. Belfiore
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  4. Paolo Mazzoleni
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  5. Antonino Pezzino
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Correspondence to Mauro F. La Russa.

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La Russa, M.F., Barone, G., Belfiore, C.M. et al. Application of protective products to “Noto” calcarenite (south-eastern Sicily): a case study for the conservation of stone materials. Environ Earth Sci 62, 1263–1272 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-010-0614-3

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