Rough and polished travertine building stone decay evaluated by a marine aerosol ageing test

Tablets of rough and polished travertine were aged in a sea-salt spray corrosion chamber to explore potentially contrasting stone decay behaviour due to different surface finishing processes. This paper presents a multianalytical approach to characterise the chemical, mineralogical, textural, porosimetric and colourimetric features of quarried and weathered travertine after the test. Rough and polished stone surfaces behave differently according to salt-spray absorption, newly formed pore networks, composition and habits of salts, and chromatic changes. Roughness and irregularities of the unpolished travertine favour salt inputs that in turn increase the open porosity. By contrast, the smooth finish of the polished travertine helps to protect it against salt decay, since this finishing blocks the pore system in the near-surface stone. This information is crucial to establish maintenance and conservation construction practices.