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The Hawara Pyramid is an outstanding monument. However, the mudbrick structure shows signs of erosion, and the passages and chambers are currently submerged. The problem of water ingress has mainly arisen since the 1880s. In this study, an initial assessment of the pyramid structure was made and causes of water ingress were investigated through analysis of water samples. Stable oxygen isotope measurements indicate that the source of water within the pyramid is the Bahr Selah canal. Water within the pyramid is highly saline compared to the Bahr Selah, and evaporation can only partly account for this high salinity. The composition of dissolved ions suggests that dissolution of salts in soils and from bedrock in the vicinity of the pyramid has enhanced the salinity of water percolating into the pyramid structure. Water ingress and salt deposition are at present the main threat to the integrity of the monument. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Carbon isotopes (13C) and C/N ratios from bulk organic matter have recently been used as alternative proxies for relative sea-level (RSL) reconstruction where there are problems associated with conventional biological indictors. A previous study on a single isolation basin (Upper Loch nan Eala) in northwest Scotland has shown a clear relationship between 13C, C/N ratios and palaeosalinity from Younger Dryas and Holocene aged sediments. In this paper we present results of 13C and C/N ratio analyses from other isolation basins in northwest Scotland over the Holocene and the Lateglacial period in order to validate this technique. The results from the Holocene sequences support the earlier findings that this technique can be used to identify RSL change from isolation basins over the Holocene in this region. The relationship between 13C, C/N ratios and RSL change is not apparent in sediments of Lateglacial age. Other environmental variables such as atmospheric CO2 concentration, poor vegetation development and temperature influence 13C values during this period.

Microfossils in isolation basin sediments are frequently used to reconstruct sea-level change, but preservation problems and non-analogue situations can limit their usefulness. Here we investigate the potential of stable carbon isotopes (δ13C) and C/N ratios from bulk organic matter, as an alternative proxy of salinity within isolation basin sediments from a basin in northwest Scotland. Within the Holocene sediment δ13C and C/N are determined largely by the mean weighted values of the predominant source of the organic material. Analysis of modern materials and comparison with the diatom record shows that the marine parts of the sequence are dominated by high δ13C and variable C/N. In the fresh water sequences the organic material is a mixture of both freshwater aquatic and terrestrial plant input that have relatively low δ13C and high C/N. The application of δ13C and C/N ratios in the studied basin in general follow the environmental change recorded by the diatoms and shows the potential of bulk organic matter in the investigation of salinity change in isolation basins. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.