Stone pollution effect

Costlow, J.D. 1979. Effect of dimilin on development of larvae of the stone crab Menippe mercenaria, and the blue crab, Callinectes sapidus. Pages 355-363 in W.B. Vemberg, A. Calabrese, F.P. Thurberg, and F.J. Vemberg (eds.). Marine Pollution Functional Responses. Academic Press, New York. 

Deterioration of ancient stonework appears to have accelerated very markedly in many places in the present century Winkler [109], whose treatise on the durability of stone is the major source for the material in this section, shows photographs of early eighteenth century sandstone statues in places close to the Rhine—Ruhr industrial region. After two hundred years, at the beginning of the present century, these statues had clearly delineated features of faces, hands, etc. Sixty years later, they appeared rough outlines, faceless and handless. If this deterioration indeed owes nothing to the military activities of two world wars, it is a remarkable illustration of the effects of industrial pollution of the atmosphere. 

Corrosion. A more serious effect and one of great economic importance is the corrosive action of acid gases on building materials. Such acids can cause stone surfaces to blister and peel mortar can be reduced to powder. Metals are also damaged by the corrosive action of some pollutants. Another common effect is the deterioration of tires... 

Another example of the application of fermentation is the removal of organic compounds from exhaust air. Such biofilters are often trickle-bed reactors, in which the microorganisms grow on a solid support, such as wood chips or porous stones. Water is trickled through the reactor, whereas the exhaust air flows in the opposite direction. The bacteria digest the organic components and destroy odor-causing chemicals. Biofilters are applied in municipal wastewater treatment, food production, paint, paper, and timber industries or soil remediation. They provide an attractive alternative to thermal, chemical, and adsorptive processes for cost-effective treatment of air pollutants. 

Little quantitative information is available to assess the effect of nonsulfur-containing pollutants in carbonate-rock damage (1) however, the presence of organic acids on the stone surface, for example, could accelerate rock damage markedly. 

In devising a scheme for monitoring the rate of deterioration of the sandstone, the assumption was made that any effect that atmospheric pollutants may have on the stones integrity will appear at or near the surface. It is not a common occurrance that masonry is saturated throughout by water. Consequently, an adequate measure of erosion is the rate of recession of the surface. Here, the bonding material is dissolved or disrupted by repeated exposures to moisture which may contain chemicals which accelerate the process. The rate of recession is characterized by the rate at which the loosened quartz grains are subsequently removed. 

Air pollution sources in the United States and Canada currently emit more than 25 million tons of sulfur dioxide each year. SO2 and wet acidic deposition are believed to cause damage to aquatic life, crops, forests, and materials. The effects on materials include damages to common construction materials including galvanized steel (zinc), paint, copper, building stones and mortar, as well as damages to cultural or historic objects and buildings. 

Figure 6 Damage function for stone. Stone decay proceeds, often at an assumed linear rate, to a critical threshold point. Beyond this point the damage is unacceptable. Unlike some phenomena to which this form of analysis has been applied, reducing pollution does not reverse the effects of damage. Certain suites of processes may operate at a more rapid rate to alter the stone, even under the same pollution conditions, than other suites of processes. This could result in differential damage on a building...

The desired biological action of biocides against unwanted growths on stone, of course, also means that these chemicals pose a threat to the natural environment if they cannot be restricted to the stone substratum. Thus the chemical and physical behaviour, especially their solubility in water and capacity to react with stone components, has an important effect on whether there is a risk of environmental pollution. The interactions with the stone, or indeed previous chemical treatments, could also lead to colour changes or even mechanical damage through crystallisation. 

Brown DM, Wilson MR, MacNee W, Stone V, Donaldson K (2001) Size-dependent proinflammatory effects of ultrafine polystyrene particles a role for surface area and oxidative stress in the enhanced activity of ultrafines. Toxicol Appl Pharmacol 175 191-199 Brunkreef B, Holgate ST (2002) Air pollution and health. Lancet 360 1233-1242 Chen H, Goldberg MS, Villeneuve PJ (2008) A systematic review of the relation between longterm exposure to ambient air pollution and chronic diseases. Rev Environ Health 23 243-297 Churg A, Brauer M (1997) Human lung parenchyma retains PM2.5. Am J Respir Crit Care Med 155 2109-2111... 

The problem of florescences is germane to atmospheric pollution. First of all, the florescences may originate in the attack of atmospheric gases on masonry materials. Once they have formed, they increase the concentration of ions in solution and thereby increase the solubility of potential efflorescences dispersed in the matrix of the stone, and thus concentrate them in the near-surface regions where they are most effective in causing the disintegration of the stone. 

Many interesting studies have been published on the effects of a polluted atmosphere on stone with emphasis on the more chemical aspects [39,40,41]. The physical-chemical analytical techniques employed in the study of building materials provide very accurate qualitative and quantitative results on the alterations related to the patina or crust as well as the bulk chemistry of the exposed stone. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Electron probe X-ray microanalysis (EPXMA), Fourier-transform infrared analysis (FTIR), X-Ray diffraction (XRD), energy dispersive X-Ray fluorescence, Ion Chromatography, are the most used techniques for the studies of sulphate black crusts as well as to evaluate the effect of exposition time of the sample stone to weathering[42,43]. 

An international exposure program within the U.N. Economic Commission for Europe (UN/ECE) was implemented in 1987 with the general aim of performing a quantitative evaluation of the effect of sulfur pollutants in combination with NO2, other pollutants, and climatic parameters. Thirty-nine test sites in 12 European countries, the United States, and Canada were included. The program is based on exposure of structural metals, stone materials, paint coatings, and electric contact materials at test sites where measurements of environmental parameters are already in progress. Results were reported by ... 

Shown as one of the five environmental spheres in Chapter 1, Figure 1.2, the anthrosphere is the part of the environment made and operated by humans. The anthrosphere is where pollutants are made and from which they are released with profound effects on aU the other environmental spheres. It is also strongly affected by pollutants, for example, acid rain that canses deterioration of stone structures and corrosion of metal components. 

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