Investigation and analysis of groundwater-derived damage to the Shahe ancient bridge site in Xi\u2019an, China

Jing Cao,Juanli Wang,Hua Chen,Bingjie Mai,Yuhu Li

doi:10.1186/s40494-021-00573-6

Abstract

Earthen cultural ruins and their subsurface environments act as carriers or support for aboveground cultural heritage artefacts, and groundwater has been identified as the most important factor accelerating the destruction of ruins. In this paper, a wooden structure on the site of the Xianyang Shahe ancient bridge is taken as the research object. Through geotechnical surveys and site sample analyses, the relationship between the environment and cause of damage at the site is explored. Fluctuations in groundwater level are found to affect the movement of water and salt, thereby accelerating deterioration and allowing microbes and other soil inhabitants and plants to erode the ruins. Furthermore, strong correlations are revealed between the stratigraphy of the area and both ruin status and sample analysis results. Geotechnical investigation data are used to predict the effects of various damaging factors on long-term preservation and the underlying mechanisms and to propose feasible, long-term countermeasures for preservation studies.

Highlights

Cultural heritage is defined as a set of large settlements, city sites, palaces, tombs, and other sites of great scale, value, cultural and artistic significance with a far-reaching influence which they have a wide spatial distribution, many types of ruins existing on various large scales, and they are usually subjected to natural and anthropogenic factors [1, 2]
Geotechnical characteristics The strata within the depth of exploration are described in detail as follows: Following the geological stratigraphy observed in the borehole, Fig. 5 shows that the stratum where the site is located is mainly composed of Quaternary alluvial fine sand, coarse sand, gravel sand, boulder and silty clay
With the improvement of the requirements and methods established for protecting ruins, we have found that ruins and their environment are absolutely and closely linked, and they are interdependent and interact with each other

Summary

Introduction

Cultural heritage is defined as a set of large settlements, city sites, palaces, tombs, and other sites of great scale, value, cultural and artistic significance with a far-reaching influence which they have a wide spatial distribution, many types of ruins existing on various large scales, and they are usually subjected to natural and anthropogenic factors [1, 2]. In terms of cultural monuments, earthen ruins and their subsurface environments act either as a carrier of or a support for aboveground cultural heritage artefacts. The aboveground part of a site and its subterranean environment were an inseparable whole. The differences in the types and materials of the sites

Methods

Results

Conclusion