Citation: Ajanaf, T., Goméz-Gras, D., Navarro, A., Martín-Martín, J.D., Rosell, J.R., Maate., A., 2020. The building stone of the Roman city of Lixus (NW Morocco): provenance, petrography and petrophysical characterization. Geologica Acta, 18.13, 1-16. DOI: 10.1344/GeologicaActa2020.18.13 The building stone of the Roman city of Lixus (NW Morocco): provenance, petrography and petrophysical characterization T. Ajanaf1 D. Gómez-Gras2 A. Navarro3 J.D. Martín-Martín*4 J.R. Rosell3 A. Maate1 1Département de Géologie, Faculté des Sciences-Tétouan, Université Abdelmalek Essaadi Maroc Avenue de Sebta, 93003 Tétouan, Maroc. Ajanaf E-mail:
[email protected] 2Departament de Geologia, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona 08193 Bellaterra (Cerdanyola del Vallès), Spain. Gómez-Gras E-mail:
[email protected] 3Departament de Tecnologia de l’Arquitectura, Escola Politècnica Superior d’Edificació de Barcelona, UPC 08028 Barcelona, Spain. Navarro E-mail:
[email protected] 4Departament de Mineralogia, Petrologia i Geologia Aplicada, Facultat de Ciències de la Terra, Universitat de Barcelona (UB) 08028 Barcelona, Spain. Martín-Martín E-mail:
[email protected] *Corresponding author ABSTRACT The characterization of building materials is a key tool to assess deterioration processes and improve potential restoration works of archaeological sites. The aim of this paper is to identify and characterize the most important building stones used in the construction of the Roman city of Lixus (Larache, Morocco) by means of petrographic and petrophysical techniques. Based on the visual analysis of the monuments, three major building stones (i.e. lithotypes) have been identified: i) Oligocene sandstones, ii) Quaternary sandstones and iii) Quaternary conglomerates.