Stone loss rates at sites around Europe

This paper describes the results of the exposure of samples of limestone, sandstone and marble at eight sites around Europe over a 20-month period. A modified microcatchment technique was employed to collect runoff over long time intervals. The sites chosen were in Dublin, Donegal, Manchester, Liphook, Antwerp, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Padua and Athens. These sites cover a range of environmental conditions from rural to urban. Environmental data on rainfall amount, rainfall acidity, temperature and SO2 were collected for each site. Loss rates were in the same range as reported by other authors for calcareous stones ranging from 12.4 g m−2 year−1 (Padua) to 38.1 g m−2 year−1 (Manchester). The greatest loss was recorded from central Manchester. The Antwerp and Liphook sites also had high loss. Loss at these sites was related to rainfall acidity and SO2 concentrations. Quite high loss was recorded from the rural site. This was found to correspond to unexpectedly high rainfall acidity. The environmental conditions causing stone loss were found to interact in a complex way. Limestone was found to be the least durable of the stones exposed in this study.