Spheroidal
exfoliation in sedimentary rock monuments..
Sixth approach to environmental GeoEgyptology
Soliman M. Soliman
Dept. Geology, Fac. Sciences, Ain Shams Univ., Cairo, Egypt |
CHAIRMAN'S ADDRESS
Geologically... "The present is the key to the past" (Hutton, 1785 AD or 6025
Anc. Egypt. Calendar), ... Can I say too to complete the natural cycle as our Ancient
Forefathers denoted and practiced thousands of years ago ... "The past and present
are the keys to the future"...
PREAMBLE
Respectively ... the father to the inquisitive hopeful Fouad I Univ. freshman...
"Look my son, description of future horizons is what you now imagine in your mind and
feel in your soul and spirit... that is what our Ancient Forefathers might have
meant..." That ended the longdrawn fatherly discussion, but enhanced the youngman's
debate with himself... Its general meaning was then satisfactory, but the more deeper
apprehension has come to him later... "The picture of the future is mainly based on
the present reality".
He recalls, for example, Herodotus statement II82 (484? BC, or 3756 Anc. Egy. Cal.) as
translated (1947 AD, or 6187 Anc. Eg. Cal.)...
"The Egyptians have also discovered more prognostics than all the rest of mankind
besides. Whenever a prodigy takes place, they watch and record the results; then if
anything similar ever happens again, they expect the same consequences".
In another language (translation, 1981 AD, or 6221 Anc. Eg. Cal.),... "Ils ont été
témoins de plus de prodiges, à aux seuls, que tout le reste de l'humanité. Quand un
prodige survient, its en observent et en notent par écrit les conséquences et, Si le
même phénomène se reproduit, ils sont ainsi en mesure d'en prévoir
l'évolution"...
That is the past, present and future are repeated similar cycles of events and
consequences. Though, I may add to Herodotus statement about the Ancient Egyptians, not
only prodigies but also details of events, phenomena and features..., whether earthy,
stellar or cosmic...
Geologically, this is manifested by their many discoveries, uses of raw and treated
minerals and rocks, applications..., environmental protection... Of intimacy are the
weathering phenomena, weathered parts of bedrocks were scraped off before construction,
and already weathered blocks were not used by them to secure preservation and durability
of their monuments. Presumably therefore, any present weathering features in these
monuments are essentially products of later interaction between the environmental
conditions and the rock materials since construction thousands of years ago.
The present study on spheroidal exfoliation is multipurpose... it concentrates on the
weathering features descriptively known as "spheroidal" noticed by me in some
blocks of these ancient monuments, in the region between Abu Roash (N of Cairo) to ElLahun
some 100 km southward. This may also give clues to similar older features in natural
occurrences, and may demonstrate further prospects to the future of the monuments.
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