A multidisciplinary non-destructive study of historical pipe organ fragments

Tin weathering experiment set by nature for 300 years: natural crystals of the anthropogenic mineral hydroromarchite from Creussen, Bavaria, Germany

“…That appeared to be the case in the present work. Here we report a new natural occurrence of the anthropogenic mineral hydroromarchite after only a few unambiguously confirmed instances so far (Organ and Mandarino, 1971;Ramik et al, 2003;Dunkle et al, 2003Dunkle et al, , 2004Berger et al, 2019;Di Martino et al, 2019). It was found not in a water environment but in soil.…”

“…During an excavation in the Mochlos settlement (Crete, Greece) in 2004, a tin ingot was unearthed, and some hydroromarchite could be identified among the products of the ingot's disintegration (Berger et al, 2019). Investigations of fragments of a tin-rich alloy organ pipe (mid-18th century), coming from an instrument placed in the church of San Giovanni Battista in Chieti (Abruzzo) in central Italy (Di Martino et al, 2019), revealed hydroromarchite among products of the organ pipe's corrosion due to moisture. Present work has added one more location to the currently quite short list due to finding hydroromarchite as a product of a tin artefact weathering in soil for about 300 years.…”