Hydraulic marine pozzolanic concrete
Hormigón hidráulico puzolánico para obras marinas
- Date
- c. 50 BCE · confidence medium
- Place
- Puteoli (Pozzuoli) and Caesarea Maritima, Italy / Israel
- Credited to
- Roman engineers; described by Vitruvius
- Field
- Matter & energy
What it is
Concrete with volcanic ash that sets underwater and hardens over time by forming tobermorite and aluminous tobermorite. It allowed piers and breakwaters to be built directly in the sea.
What it led to
- Artificial harbours (Caesarea, Portus) that multiplied Mediterranean trade
- Supply of grain from Egypt to Rome on an imperial scale
- Multi-century durability that today inspires low-carbon-footprint cements
Built on
- Roman concrete (opus caementicium)c. 200 BCE
- Pozzolana
- Submerged formwork
Made possible
- Roman concrete (opus caementicium)c. 200 BCE
- Large-span concrete dome (Pantheon)c. 126 CE
- Port of Portus
- Harbour lighthouse
- Roman dam