Paranhos constitutes one of the main water galleries excavated in the granite substratum of Porto City (Portugal) to gather the groundwater for public use during the past six centuries. The interest of this water gallery is double: a) Cultural Heritage and scientific value, b) Underground geoturism. A multidisciplinary research to study the microclimatology, geochemistry, mineralogy and geomicrobiology of the Paranhos catchwork galleries is currently in progress. The characterization of the main environmental parameters (air-rock temperature, relative humidity, CO2, 222Rn, etc.) in the internal atmosphere would allow the establishment of: a) Fluid-rock interactions and development of a physical-chemical model of air-water-rock, as a base to define their relations with unusual mineral formations and microbial communities b) Microclimatic parameters and determination of effective radioactive dose for visitors based on 222Rn studies, as potential use as underground geotourism site under safe conditions.

Sanz Rubio, Enrique et al.-- 4 pages, 3 figures, 4 references.-- Proceedings of the International Congress on Science and Technology for the Conservation of Cultural Heritage, held 2-5 october, Santiago de Compostela, España.

This research was supported by the Spanish Project CGL2011-25690.

Peer reviewed