ORIGINAL ARTICLE The particular ‘‘rammed earth’’ of the Saadian sugar refinery of Chichaoua (XVIth century, Morocco): mineralogical, chemical and mechanical characteristics Naoual Gamrani • Khalid R’kha Chaham • Mouncif Ibnoussina • Fabio Fratini • Luisa Rovero • Ugo Tonietti • Mohammed Mansori • Lehcen Daoudi • Claude Favotto • Nasrrddine Youbi Received: 13 December 2010 / Accepted: 9 July 2011 / Published online: 29 July 2011 Ó Springer-Verlag 2011 Abstract This work focuses on the building material used in the Saadian sugar refinery of Chichaoua (about 70 km southwest of Marrakesh). The study involved a classification of different types of rammed earth, followed by their mineralogical characterization based on optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). These studies are complemented by chemical investigations, X-ray fluorescence, and ther- mal analysis (DTA and TGA). The results demonstrate the use of two types of earth for the realisation of rammed earth, the first one non-plastic, -grained with added lime, the other one of low plasticity, and fine grained without addition of lime. Mechanical tests on site and in laboratory how at the first type of material exhibits great strength, exceeding the values known for rammed earth. Keywords Saadien sugar refinery  Rammed earth  X-ray diffraction  SEM  DTA-TG Introduction The sugar industry in Morocco is very old and dates from the end of ninth century (895). It started first in the Idrissids dynasty and kingdoms of Ze ´ne `tes (788-1067) with three sugar refineries located in Tangier, Souss and Sejelmassa (Berthier 1966). It then spread to the south of Morocco during the reigns Almoravids, Almohads and Saadians, including units in Chichaoua, Sidi Chiker, Essaouira, Igli, Taroudant, Sale, Safi and Goulmine. It was during the Saadien reign (1554–1659) and especially the period of Ahmed El Mansour (1578–1603) that this industry reached its maximum development (Deverdun 1957; Jacques 1940) with the two units of Chichaoua and Essaouira (Berthier 1964, 1966). Unfortunately, the fall of the Saadian dynasty (seventeenth century) precipitated the decline and disap- pearance of this industry that presently is reflected only by its remains. Chichaoua sugar refinery (Fig. 1), the subject of this note, is situated 70 km southwest of Marrakech. This refinery, built exclusively according to the formwork technique, was the subject of an archaeological study (Berthier 1966) which led to the development of plans for the 3 major parts of the production plant: – the hydraulic part, constituted by a waterfall 8 m tall with an hydraulic groove, a tailrace, a pool and an aqueduct that represents the best preserved building of the sugar refinery. It was powered by a seguia fed by the waters of the river Chichaoua. It is oriented SSW- NNE and extends for about 750 m, with a height of 0.5 m in the south reaching 8 m towards the north; N. Gamrani (&)  K. R’kha Chaham  M. Ibnoussina  N. Youbi Universite ´ Cadi Ayyad, Faculte ´ des Sciences Semlalia, Boulevard du Prince My Abdellah, B.P. 2390, Marrakech, Morocco e-mail: nadin97@gmail.com F. Fratini ICVBC-CNR, Via Madonna del Piano n. 10, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Italy L. Rovero  U. Tonietti Universita ` di Firenze Dipartimento di Costruzioni piazza, Brunelleschi 6, 50121 Firenze , Italy M. Mansori  L. Daoudi Universite ´ Cadi Ayyad, Faculte ´ des Sciences et Techniques Marrakech, BP 549, Gue ´liz, 40000 Marrakech, Morocco C. Favotto Universite ´ du sud Toulon-Var Institut Mate ´riaux Microe ´lectronique Nanosciences de Provence (Im2np), Ba ˆt. R , B.P. 20132, La Garde Cedex 83 957, France 123 Environ Earth Sci (2012) 66:129–140 DOI 10.1007/s12665-011-1214-6