San Fernando Batteries in Portobelo - Panama: building materials characterization and the environmental impact evaluation

Abstract

[EN] The UNESCO site of San Fernando arises in the northern part of the Bay of Portobelo, on the Panamanian Caribbean coast, and belongs to a group of military fortifications erected during the XVIIXVIII centuries by the Spanish Empire. These defence structures were aimed at protecting the strategic outpost for the transoceanic trade, between the "New" and the "Old World", from the pirate attacks. In order to safeguard this impressive site, the Institute of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate, ISACCNR (Bologna), the "Patronato de Portobelo y San Lorenzo" and the Department of Physics and Earth Sciences of the University of Ferrara have started a collaboration for characterizing and evaluating the state of conservation of the construction materials, considering the environmental impact on them. Specifically this paper shows preliminary results obtained by mineralogical and petrographic characterization carried out by Polarized Light Microscopy (PLM), Environmental Scanning Electron Microscopy (ESEM-EDX) and X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) investigations.