Investigating the effect of weathering on the durability and deterioration of historical stone monuments in the south of Zanjan province

In this research, the durability and deterioration of two historical stone monuments, including the Dashkasan rock temple and the historical stone inscriptions of the Sojas cemetery in the south of Zanjan province, were investigated. For this purpose, two stone block samples were selected from each historical work for laboratory study. Based on the geological investigations, the historical monuments of the Dashkasan rock temple were carved on tuffs of the Karaj Formation. According to the thin section study, the Dashkasan temple rocks composed of the crystal vitric tuff and lithic vitric tuff and the samples of the historical inscriptions of the Sojas cemetery were limestone and very fine-grained sandstone, quartz being the dominant mineral of these rocks. In terms of physical characteristics, the samples studied have medium density and porosity. In terms of durability and deterioration, all four samples were subjected to 15 cycles of the slake durability test in normal water and sodium sulphate solution. The degradation function model and half-life of all four samples were determined and analysed. The results show that all four samples have a lower slake-durability index in sodium sulphate solution than in normal water. Due to the presence of quartz in lime or clay matrix, the samples of historical stone inscriptions from Sojas cemetery have more water absorption and porosity and are more durable, and their half-life is lower than the samples from Dashkasan rock temple.