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The preservation of cultural heritage, particularly historical stone structures, represents a very challenging matter due to several environmental and anthropogenic factors. Vicenza stone, a calcareous rock known for its historical significance and widespread use in architectural masterpieces, requires significant attention for conservation. In fact, as the demand for sustainable and effective preservation methods intensifies, the exploration of innovative consolidation strategies becomes essential. To this end, inorganic consolidants, based on alkaline silicate formulations and nano-silica, were explored for their promising performance in enhancing the surface properties and chemical stability of Vicenza stone. In particular, the durability of treated and untreated Vicenza stone samples was evaluated by means of accelerated weathering tests such as freeze–thaw cycles, salt crystallization and simulation of acid rain. The experimental results revealed that Vicenza stone is very resistant to the effects of freeze–thaw cycles and acid rain; both the accelerated weathering tests did not show significant differences between treated and untreated VS samples. A different behavior was detected for the test for resistance to salt crystallization, whose findings led us to deduce that, for this kind of degradation, it is possible to observe a more beneficial effect of the consolidation treatments on the stone durability. Full article

Organic-rich rocks of the Marcellus subgroup in the study area consist of a diverse suite of mudstone lithofacies that were deposited in distinct facies belts. Lithofacies in the succession range in composition from argillaceous to siliceous, calcareous, and carbonaceous mudstone. Heterogeneities in the succession occurs in the form of varying mineralogical composition, slightly bioturbated to highly bioturbated chaotic matrix, organic-rich and organic-lean laminae, scattered fossil shells in the matrix, and fossils acting as lamination planes. Lithofacies were deposited in three facies belts from the proximal to the distal zone of the depositional system. Bedded siliceous mudstone (BSM) facies occur in the proximal facies belt and consists of a high quartz content in addition to clay minerals and pyrite. In the medial part of the facies belt lies the laminated argillaceous mudstone (LAM), bedded calcareous mudstone (BCaM), and bedded carbonaceous mudstone (BCM). The size of detrital mineral grains in the lithofacies of the medial facies belt is larger than bedded argillaceous mudstone (BAM) of the distal facies belt, characterized by clay-rich matrix with occasional fossil shells and horizontally aligned fossils. Two types of horizontal traces and one type of fecal string characterize the proximal mud-stone facies, whereas only single horizontal trace fossil is found in the mudstones of the medial and distal facies belt. Parallel alignment of fossil shells and fossil lags in lithofacies indicate that bed-load transport was active periodically from the proximal source of the depositional system. Bioturbation has heavily affected all of the lithofacies and presence of mottled burrows as well as Devonian fauna indicate that oxic to dysoxic conditions prevailed during deposition. The deposition of this organic-rich mudstone succession through dynamic processes in an overall oxic to dysoxic environment is different from conventional anoxic depositional models interpreted for most of the organic rich black shales worldwide. Total organic content (TOC) varies from top to bottom in the succession and is highest in BCM facies. The brittleness index, calculated on the basis of mineralogy, allowed classification of the lithofacies into three distinct zones, i.e., a brittle zone, a less brittle zone, and a ductile zone with a general proximal to distal decrease in the brittle behavior due to a decrease in the size of the sediments. Full article

Stone consolidants have been widely used to protect historical monuments. Consolidants and hydrophobic formulations based on the use of tetraethoxysilane (TEOS) and alkylalkoxysilanes as precursors have been widely applied, despite their lack of solubility in water and requirement to be applied in organic media. In the search for a “greener” alternative based on silicon that has potential use in this field, the use of tetrakis(2-hydroxyethyl)silane (THEOS) and tris(2-hydroxyethyl)methyl silane (MeTHEOS) as precursors, due their high water solubility and stability, is proposed in this paper. It is already known that THEOS and MeTHEOS possess remarkable compatibility with different natural polysaccharides. The investigated approach uses the water-soluble silanes THEOS–chitosan and MeTHEOS–chitosan as a basis for obtaining hybrid consolidants and hydrophobic formulations for the conservation of siliceous and calcareous stones. In the case of calcareous systems, their incompatibility with alkoxysilanes is known and is expected to be solved by the developed hybrid consolidant. Their application in the conservation of building stones from historical and archeological sites from Guanajuato, México was studied. The evaluation of the consolidant and hydrophobic formulation treatment was mainly conducted by determining the mechanical properties and contact angle measurements with satisfactory results in terms of the performance and compatibility with the studied stones. Full article