Bioconsolidation of calcarenite for cultural heritage conservation: Effects of application methods on mechanical and petrophysical properties

Sundarbans mangrove microbiota as agents for low-density polyethylene degradation.

ABSTRACT Biodiversity surveys are essential in Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), providing baseline information for impact prediction and decision-making. Brazilian legislation requires the identification of scientific, economic, rare, or endangered value, but does not specify methodologies. We evaluated the floristic survey conducted for the EIA of an iron ore mining project in the Serra de Ouro Preto, at the entrance of Ouro Preto, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We conducted a pioneering counter-assessment based on a one-day field survey in Campos Rupestres vegetation, depositing vouchers in herbarium, and identifying specimens with taxonomic rigor; additional records were retrieved from virtual herbaria. We documented 93 species, 79 recorded in the field and 14 from herbaria. Of the field-recorded species, 56 (71%) were absent from the EIA report, including four endangered species and one microendemic species (new status at species rank). We also identified 23 medicinal species and seven ruderal species. Herbarium records revealed another microendemic species restricted to the affected area and absent from the EIA report. These findings indicate incomplete legal compliance and inadequate biodiversity characterization, highlighting the need for clearer regulations and stronger technical guidance. Despite the limitations of the case study approach, findings have clear implications to EIA theory and practice.

ABSTRACT The management of the Kondoa rock-art World Heritage Site has grown increasingly complex over the past 15 years due to its layered cultural and natural significance. The site has lacked an updated management plan since the expiration of its 2016 framework, creating challenges in guiding conservation and stakeholder engagement. Developing a new plan has been particularly difficult, as it must balance the interests of multiple stakeholders while addressing the site’s complexity. The earlier plan, prepared for the 2006 World Heritage nomination, followed a largely top-down approach influenced by the Authorised Heritage Discourse (AHD), prioritising compliance with inscription requirements over local engagement. This paper explores the application of an action-oriented approach to heritage management, grounded in community-centred theories. By incorporating local knowledge, identity, and place attachment, it shows how management plans can evolve from static, bureaucratic documents into dynamic, adaptive tools that better reflect community needs and support sustainable heritage conservation.

ABSTRACT Integrating the multi-dimensional values of geoheritage landscapes into planning and decision-making is essential for sustainable conservation and development. This article develops a hierarchical and relational geoheritage value framework distinguishing intrinsic geological values, geo-environmental functions, and derived socio-cultural and economic meanings. Focusing on Göreme in Cappadocia, Türkiye, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the study examines its unique landscape of rock formations, valleys, cave dwellings, and monastic complexes. Based on qualitative research combining literature review, archival sources, field observations, stakeholder workshops, and semi-structured interviews, the study systematically identifies and interprets multi-layered geoheritage values through a value typology and relational value matrix. The findings show that Göreme’s significance lies in the functional coherence among geological formations, ecological processes, vernacular architecture, cultural practices, and tourism economies, while revealing tensions between economic valorisation and the preservation of ecological integrity, cultural authenticity, and landscape sustainability, highlighting governance challenges and trade-offs in achieving sustainable conservation and development.

Rapid thaw of the Earth's cryosphere in response to anthropogenic warming highlights the need to identify and understand the contrasting signatures of past ice‐sheet stability and collapse. The Kvarken archipelago, western Finland, at the centre of the former Fennoscandian Ice Sheet (FIS), has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in recognition of the exceptional preservation of glacial landforms exposed by rapid (10 mm a −1 ) postglacial isostatic uplift. Detailed mapping of hard and soft glacial bedforms allows reconstruction of ice sheet dynamics over the last glacial cycle. Striation orientation measurements ( n ~ 1100) were made at 700 sites on Precambrian gneiss and granite bedrock surfaces around the present shorelines. The striation data are classified into relative age categories and broader striation arrays to identify ice‐flow paths and then integrated with other directional indicators from overlying glacial sediments and landforms. The full data set reveals a sequence of six ice‐flow stages, which are then placed in a revised event and chronostratigraphic model for the wider Ostrobothnia region. After a major glacial erosion phase in Kvarken in late MIS 6, ice sheets returned in MIS 4 and MIS 3. During brief sliding phases, till sheets were deformed and eroded, but cross‐striations indicate that bedrock erosion was locally weak (<0.5 m) until after the last glacial maximum. At 11.6 ka, summer temperatures in Fennoscandia rose abruptly by 3–6 °C, and large volumes of meltwater reached the glacier bed. At 10.7–10.5 ka, a fast ice‐flow phase, the Gävle Oscillation, developed in the Bothnian basin. A <400‐year pulse of intense subglacial activity began in Kvarken, with abrupt and often pronounced switching of flow, production of new striation arrays, widespread erosion of till and bedrock and the formation of new soft bedforms. Existing till sheets were extensively glaciotectonically deformed into a young set of ribbed moraines. Local ice‐flow events led to the development of low‐relief megaflutings, drumlins and flutings. Bedrock was hydraulically damaged by large discharges of pressurized meltwater flowing in subglacial meltwater corridors, generating dense concentrations of large boulders. The ice margin retreated at 200–700, even 1000 m a −1 , with deposition of De Geer moraines in water depths of 220 m, before final deglaciation at 10.4–10.3 ka. Our Kvarken case study indicates that after slow erosion beneath stable ice sheet centres in MIS 4 and MIS 3/2, abrupt Early Holocene warming triggered ice sheet collapse and brought profound changes at the ice sheet bed over centennial time scales.

ABSTRACT The architectural heritage of the colonial period in Mesoamerica was built primarily with stones from local quarries. In Mexico, 10 colonial cities have been declared UNESCO World Heritage Sites, where stone blocks joined or covered with lime mortar were widely used. In some cases, walls were constructed with uncarved stones covered and grouted with mortars. This construction technique, derived from European treatises by Alberti, Palladio, and Vitruvius, was adapted by builders in the Americas. Consequently, lime mortars were modified to suit local conditions and required mechanical resistance, elasticity, durability, color compatibility, and adhesion to stone. A major challenge in seismic zones is minimizing cracking while increasing flexural strength and elasticity. This study analyzed lime mortars reinforced with natural fibers, including cotton, lamb’s wool, hair, and chicken feathers, to determine their behavior under compressive, flexural, adhesive, and direct tensile stresses, as well as modulus of elasticity. Nondestructive tests, including ultrasonic pulse velocity, colorimetry, effective porosity, and sorptivity, were also conducted. All tests were performed at 1473 days. Results indicated significant improvements in mechanical properties compared with unreinforced mortars, demonstrating that natural fiber reinforcement enhances performance and durability, supporting its use in the preservation and restoration of historic masonry.

The debate of identifying the ancient Kapilavatthu is one of the most captivating and contested inquiries from archaeology and Buddhist historiography perspective. This city holds profound religious, historical, and cultural importance because according to Pāli Tipiṭaka, it was the capital of the Śākya kingdom and the early residence of Siddhārtha Gautama from his birth to renunciation. It was within the confines of Kapilavastu that Siddhārtha spent the formative twenty-nine years of his life, nurtured in the royal luxury of the Śākya court, before he renounced worldly life to seek spiritual awakening. Locating this ancient city is not merely an academic endeavor; it has significant implications for Buddhist pilgrimage traditions, national heritage narratives, and cross-border cultural diplomacy. Over the past century, scholarly and archaeological attention has focused on three primary contenders for ancient Kapilavastu (Tilaurakoṭ in Nepal, and Piprahwā and Ganwaria in India) and each of these sites presents compelling material evidence and historical connections. Tilaurakoṭ, situated in the Kapilvastu District of southern Nepal, has been the focus of extensive excavations led by Prof. Basanta Bidari and Robin Cuningham and claimed a fortified city with gates, moats, streets, continued habitation, and punch-marked coins of 6th century BCE. On the basis of urban settlement near Lumbinī, supports its claim for the historical Kapilavastu. In contrast, India’s Siddharth Nagar, Uttar Pradesh claim for ancient Kapilavastu is based on evidences found at Piprahwā and Ganwaria. Peppe in 1898 excavated a stupa near Piprahwā, inside of which he found an inscribed casket which refers to the Śākyas of Kapilavastu and the relics to be of the Buddha. Later excavations led by the Archaeological Survey of India have uncovered monastic structures, stupas, and settlement remains dating from the 3rd century BCE to the early Common Era. Ganwaria, just a few kilometers away, has yielded further archaeological evidences, suggesting its functioning as a residential quarter of the same settlement complex. The above mentioned ancient sites in India and Nepal have historical and cultural legacy and this common legacy could become a model of trans-national heritage collaboration by recognizing the Buddhist cultural and heritage landscape as the cradle of Buddhism. Here in this research paper, I am going to highlight textual and archaeological evidences in the context of Tilaurakoṭ, Piprahwā, and Ganwaria in the present context to examine the narrative of Siddhārtha Gautama’s early life and assesses their potential as components of a unified, transnational heritage zone that embodies the shared spiritual and cultural roots of India-Nepal.

ABSTRACT The Getty Conservation Institute, in collaboration with Myanmar’s Department of Archaeology and National Museum, initiated a long-term project to develop a holistic and sustainable approach for conserving and managing the Bagan World Heritage Site, a Buddhist cultural landscape encompassing over 3,500 monuments. After the 2016 Chauk earthquake damaged more than four hundred structures, the project prioritized seismic research, structural assessment, repair and retrofitting, conservation of decorated elements, digital documentation, and capacity building. The Repair and Retrofitting of Monuments component classified buildings by structural typology and conducted advanced research and modeling on representative buildings to develop targeted repair and retrofitting strategies. Eleven papers in this special issue present the outcomes of this work, covering typology classification, traditional construction systems, conservation history, seismic hazard modeling, numerical simulations of masonry behavior, digital documentation, 3D modeling, seismic analysis, assessment of nonstructural elements, and standardized post-earthquake damage evaluation. Integrating structural engineering, materials research, and conservation practice, these studies provide a comprehensive knowledge base to guide future interventions and enhance seismic resilience. The project demonstrated the importance of a holistic, research-driven, and collaborative approach to large-scale heritage conservation, offering methodologies and tools applicable to other historic sites facing similar challenges worldwide.

This article presents a longitudinal case study (2006–2024) of Darley Abbey Mills (DAMs), a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The research explores the site’s development trajectory, social dynamics and morphology, which unfolded in three stages: ‘Dilapidation and Decay’ (2006–2010), ‘Diplomacy and Dialogue’ (2010–2014) and ‘Action and Realisation’ (2014 onwards). Three key themes emerge throughout these stages. First, sustainability is shaped by the broader societal, cultural and economic contexts. Second, governance and protection involve complex perceptions of meanings and values. Lastly, the site’s survival relies on stakeholder interactions to address contemporary heritage conservation challenges. Additionally, this research underscores the significance of power relations, ownership and pragmatism in the continued management and use of heritage sites. It highlights the need for effective public policies to ensure the sustainability of cultural heritage and consider the impact of human activities on future generations in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

• Novel application of attribution science to cultural heritage for the first time. • Identifies human contributions to changes in extreme weather events at WHSs. • Reveals risk variation across extreme heat, dry spells, and heavy rainfall globally. • WHSs in lower-income countries face increased heat hazards and higher vulnerability. • Future projections show intensifying heat and wider wet dry contrasts at WHSs. World Heritage Sites (WHSs) hold international cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The frequency and severity of extreme climate events at these sites are changing, but the extent to which this is attributed to human activity is unknown. To address this, we conduct an attribution study for three climate extremes for all WHSs inscribed with cultural value. As of the early 21st century, human activities have on average increased extreme heat days by 46 per year at WHSs. Consecutive dry days intensified in WHS-dense Mediterranean regions, while changes in extreme rainfall were highly regional. WHSs in low-income countries experience the highest contribution of human activity to extreme heat days, in contrast to predominantly low-to-moderate contributions for WHSs in high-income regions. By showing how human-driven climate extremes vary at WHSs globally, we demonstrate how attribution studies can inform international policy coordination and site-level adaptation for cultural heritage.

Baʾude village is part of a network of archaeological villages in northern Syria that are home to numerous well-preserved historical sites from the Roman and Byzantine periods. In 2011, these villages were inscribed on the World Heritage List due to their outstanding cultural significance. Baʾude exemplifies rural life through its architecture and interaction with the natural environment, with houses being the predominant feature of its built heritage. Many of the houses are in good condition due to the use of massive stones in their construction. Several internal facades on the ground floors, overlooking the courtyards, are relatively intact and adorned with diverse decorative styles. These unspoiled architectural elements provide valuable insight into the layout, orientation, size, and design of the houses, while the surrounding environmental factors further enhance the unique character of Baʾude.

Enhancing tourist engagement in Emei martial arts tourism: Examining activities, destination image, and orientalism.

Invasive Burmese pythons (Python bivittatus) as sentinels for PFAS biomonitoring in the Greater Everglades Ecosystem.

Microplastics as a novel carbon reservoir in surface water within a large estuary of Sundarbans mangrove

Authentic livelihoods? Navigating authenticity and change in the Lake District cultural landscape

Sedimentary and structural controls on the morphology of karst peaks in Guilin Karst World Heritage Site

Nepal’s cultural heritage, especially the traditional masonry structures found in UNESCO World Heritage sites like Patan, is seriously threatened by the country’s high seismicity. Many of these buildings were constructed using pre-code methods, such as unreinforced brick masonry with mud mortar, which made them extremely vulnerable to the 2015 Gorkha earthquake. The actual as-built conditions and structural behavior of such heritage buildings are frequently not reflected in Nepal’s current seismic risk models. By conducting a thorough seismic performance evaluation of a typical traditional brick building in Patan, this study fills this gap. Laboratory testing was used to determine the brick’s compressive strength, and field surveys were utilized for the case study’s selection and geometric characterization. Nonlinear static pushover analyses were performed in the two principal directions using a three-dimensional finite element model created in DIANA FEA 10.5. With a base shear of 410 kN at an ultimate displacement of 36.5 mm in the X-direction and 236 kN at 65.5 mm in the Y-direction, the results show a strong directional dependence of seismic capacity. Fundamental periods of 0.594 and 0.388 seconds were found by eigen value analysis. Four damage states were linked to roof displacement through the development of fragility curves. Analysis using the Capacity Spectrum Method against NBC 105:2020 demand spectra shows extremely high vulnerability, with collapse expected under stronger shaking and collapse prevention limits exceeded at PGA levels as low as 0.1g. For Patan’s traditional masonry buildings, the results offer vital, region-specific fragility and capacity data that support well-informed risk mitigation, retrofitting techniques, and heritage conservation planning.

ABSTRACT Correlation of meandering fluvial strata is difficult because of the highly variable lateral extent and vertical thickness caused by the erosion of the surrounding floodplain from channel downcutting and meander migration. This variability often results in a lack of confidently traceable marker beds leading to errors with stratigraphic correlation, determination of sedimentation rates, and quantification of stratigraphic completeness in fluvial strata. Bentonites are ideal marker beds for resolving fluvial issues of stratigraphic correlation because they preserve either a single or multiple short volcanic events deposited over widespread areas and can be radiometrically dated. Additionally, they preserve other signals that can be used to construct geochemical fingerprints for individual beds, allowing correlation of fluvial strata despite fragmentary preservation. To test the utility of geochemically fingerprinted bentonites as fluvial marker beds, we examined the Campanian-aged meandering fluvial strata of the Dinosaur Park Formation (DPF), which crops out mainly as badlands in the UNESCO World Heritage Site Dinosaur Provincial Park (DPP), Alberta. The DPF lacks a well resolved stratigraphic framework; this is problematic because the DPF in DPP preserves some of the world’s most abundant and diverse dinosaur fossil assemblages, which have been used as a basis for many hypotheses related to evolution of dinosaurs and other terrestrial vertebrates. A poorly resolved stratigraphic framework for the DPF in DPP leads to substantial uncertainty regarding stratigraphic placement of dinosaur fossil sites, and therefore potential errors with any evolutionary hypotheses supported by that biostratigraphic data. We sampled 14 bentonite deposits from DPP, five of which have been dated previously and nine of which were previously unsampled. Stratigraphic sections were measured at bentonite collection sites, and elevation of all bentonite beds was recorded to ±0.1 m. Geochemical data for sampled bentonites was obtained using electron-probe micro-analysis on preserved biotite, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase phenocrysts. Our results show that bentonites in DPP have unique geochemical fingerprints and physical traits that can be used for their identification and correlation, without the need to be dated. We identify three previously unrecognized and currently undated bentonites in the DPF that will increase geochronological resolution in DPP. We demonstrate that the Plateau Tuff bentonite can be correlated over a 12 km distance across DPP, demonstrating the potential utility of bentonites for both local- and regional-scale fluvial stratigraphic correlation. These results offer a promising first step for resolving stratigraphic correlation issues for the DPF in DPP and provide a correlation framework model that can be applied to other fluvial stratigraphic systems that preserve bentonites.

The Nile River played a central role in ancient civilizations of Northeast Africa, yet its response to Holocene climate change and its impact on societies along its course remain poorly understood. Here we show how climatic and environmental changes over the past 12,500 y shaped the riverine landscape below the Nile's Fourth Cataract and affected the Nubian empire of Kush in northern Sudan. Using 26 sediment cores dated by optically stimulated luminescence and radiocarbon, with additional chronological constraints from pottery typology, we reconstruct the evolution of the Nile near Napata, the major urban center of ancient Kush at Jebel Barkal (near present-day Karima). Napata, renowned for its pyramids, temples, and palaces, flourished from about 1070 BCE to 350 CE and is now a UNESCO World Heritage site. Our results reveal that the Early-Middle Holocene Nile deeply incised its valley, followed by widespread floodplain buildup around 4,000 y ago as rainfall and river flow patterns changed. During the Late Holocene, the Nile River near Jebel Barkal remained remarkably stable, due to its narrow valley with constrained outflow and enhanced sediment deposition from upstream energy dissipation at the cataract. This long-term stability promoted fertile floodplain development and, together with the sacred prominence of Jebel Barkal, fostered enduring settlement and ritual activity. These findings demonstrate how hydroclimatic change, geomorphic stability, and cultural adaptation were intertwined in shaping the environmental foundation of ancient Nubia.