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Concept

pozzolana

A circular, textured object resembling a bowl or mold with a rough, uneven edge sits against a dark background, illustrating the concept of pozzolana, a volcanic ash used by the Romans to create cement.

A volcanic ash from the area around Pozzuoli, on the Bay of Naples, that the Romans mixed into mortar to produce a cement that set hard under water. The reactive silicates and aluminates in the ash combine with lime to form durable calcium-silicate-hydrate phases. Modern materials science still calls any ash with these properties a pozzolan, after the original Italian source.

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