Weathering Effects on Engineering Geological Properties of Trachydacitic Volcanic Rocks from the Monte Amiata (Southern Tuscany, Italy)

Abstract

Variability in lithology and weathering degree affects physical and mechanical properties of rocks. In this study, we investigated the relationships between weathering degree and engineering geological properties of trachydacitic volcanic rocks from Monte Amiata (central Italy) by coupling field and laboratory analyses. We collected in situ Schmidt hammer tests in the field. We evaluated weathering quantifying the percentage of secondary minerals through thermal analysis in the laboratory. We also determined dry density (ρd), specific gravity of solids (Gs), porosity (n) and two-dimensional (2D) porosity as resulted from scanning electron microscopy investigations. The results of our study indicate a negative linear correlation between Schmidt hammer rebound values and secondary mineral percentage. This correlation provides a tool to quantitatively estimate the deterioration of rock uniaxial compressive strength (UCS) as weathering increases. Moreover, thermal analysis turned out to be a quantitative and reproducible method to evaluate weathering degree of magmatic rocks.