Geological Hazards in Archaeological Heritage. Building Damage in the Roman Domus Casa de la Exedra at Italica (Santiponce, Prov. Sevilla/E)

Abstract

Geological Hazards in Archaeological Heritage. Building Damage in the Roman Domus Casa de la Exedra at Italica (Santiponce, Prov. Sevilla/E)

Structural damage induced by settlement differences due to soils and foundations is an increasingly significant danger, not only to critical infrastructure but equally to all modern and ancient buildings alike. Understanding and determining the cause, rate and direction of the sliding and subsidence is important when planning the necessary steps to protect cultural monuments or modern buildings. The Roman city of Italica (Santiponce) in southern Spain, situated on the northern outskirts of Seville, is focused upon in this case study. It is built on top of Miocene blue loams, Margas azules, which are prone to creep, slide and deform under increased loads. Combined with the low tensile strength of the Roman concrete, structural damage appeared within a century within the fast-constructed buildings in the new Hadrianic city quarter, Nova Urbs. This could be studied at the Casa de la Exedra. Terrestrial laser scan data (TLS) helped to map and classify structural damage, i. e. fractures and cracks in the Casa de la Exedra. A sliding direction of the entire building towards the N (NW-NE) has been detected and is interpreted as the swelling and shrinking of the blue loams of the Margas azules.