Petroglyph-bearing rock surfaces are commonly covered by a black crust, which often detaches from the bedrock through blistering and scaling, resulting in the loss of valuable cultural information. This study, for the first time, links the petroglyph deterioration with black crust, weak interlayer, and thermal effect based on field statistical results of petroglyph deterioration development and orientation. Laboratory experiments are conducted to examine the differences in ultrasonic velocity and thermodynamic properties between the black crust and the underlying rock layers (weak interlayer and fresh bedrock). Based on the experimental results, numerical simulations are used to explore the effect of temperature on the development of blistering and scaling beneath the black crust. The results demonstrate that the development of blistering and scaling on petroglyph-bearing rock surfaces is attributed to the mismatch in thermodynamic properties between the weak interlayer and its adjacent layers.
Wu et al. (Tue,) studied this question.