NOTES ON THE DISINTEGRATION OF GRANITE 

 IN EGYPT 1 



DONALD C. BARTON 

 Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri 



Introduction 



Three Periods of Disintegration in the Aswan District 



The Rate of the Disintegration of the Granite 



At Aswan 



At Luxor and Gizeh 

 The Causes of the Disintegration 



The Conventional Explanation 



Inadequacy of This Explanation in the Case of the Disintegration in 

 Egypt 



Moisture and the Disintegration 



Agreement of the Observations in Egypt with Those Made in Europe 

 and in the Eastern United States 



INTRODUCTION 



The disintegration of the granite in Egypt has been treated 

 in a general way by Walther in his discussions of disintegration 

 in desert regions. It has been commented on by Ball and others. 

 The disintegration of the New York obelisk, composed of the 

 Syene red granite, has been reported upon by Julien. The follow- 

 ing notes were made by the writer in a recent trip to Egypt in 

 which especial attention was paid to the disintegration manifested 

 by the granite in the ancient quarries and ledges of the Aswan 

 district and in the temples and monuments of Upper and Lower 

 Egypt. 



THREE PERIODS OF DISINTEGRATION IN THE ASWAN DISTRICT 



The disintegration in the Aswan district seems to belong to two 

 periods other than the present. The products of what seem to be 

 the earliest period of disintegration are found at the contact of 



1 This paper is the result of work done as Sheldon Traveling Fellow, Harvard 

 University. 



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