Abstract
Abstract The role of microbes in strengthening the ancient lime mortar has not been thoroughly explored so far. The main objective of this research is to study the formation of Ca-phosphate surface crust on the mortar surface of the 16th-century Janjira Sea Fort by the process of biomineralization. The lime mortars of Janjira sea fort were characterized for its composition, microstructure, bacterial cell count and microbial identification of bacterial isolates based on 16S rRNA sequencing. The XRD, FTIR, NMR and SEM studies confirmed the formation of surface crust comprising of Ca-phosphate on the mortar surface in saline conditions. The SEM-EDX elemental mapping of the mortar surface for bulk composition evidenced the formation of apatite. The mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP) revealed reduced porosity of the top lime surface layer by a factor of 7–15% to its inner core. The 16S rRNA sequencing identified Actinobacter sp. and Bacillus sp. as the main phosphate solubilizing bacteria. The bacterial action caused the material hardening of the mortar top surface that survived the strong oceanic current. The surface crust formed due to bacterial biomineralization has saved the historic lime binder of the Janjira Sea Fort.
Published Version
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