Effects of Water on Natural Stone in the Built Environment—A Review

Abstract

The present work reviews studies with information on the effects of water by itself on stones of the built environment both to assess the impact of this substance and to discuss possible implications for conservation. The analysis concerns empirical results from previous publications dealing with the effects, on several rock types, of freeze–thaw, wetting, erosion by running water and substances resulting from the water–stone interaction. Laboratory studies have shown that water freezing can cause physical damage even in low porosity rocks. As far as we know, this is the first review that considers comparative laboratory studies of freeze–thaw and salt crystallization on the same rock specimens, and these point to lower erosive effects than salt weathering, as freeze–thaw can provoke catastrophic cracking. Wetting has shown strong damaging effects on some fine-grained clastic rocks. Erosive features have been reported for rain exposition and for some fountain settings albeit, in these field studies, it could be difficult to assess the contribution of pollutants transported by water (this assessment could have meaningful implications for stone conservation, especially in fountain settings). Water also interacts with stone constituents, namely sulfides and soluble salts, releasing substances that could impact those stones. Sulfides are a relatively frequent issue for slates and granites, and our observations suggest that for this last rock type, this issue is mostly associated with the presence of enclaves and, hence, avoiding the surface exposition of such enclaves could solve the problem.

Changes in shore platform wetting and drying cycles following the 2016 Kaikōura earthquake: Implications for incipient marine terrace evolution

“…At KM4, the four intertidal MEM monitoring sites on indurated Amuri limestone have decreased erosion rates (Dickson et al, 2022; Stephenson et al, 2018), despite an increase of 73% in annual wetting and drying cycles and a 214% increase in drying hours. On limestone platforms, wetting and drying effects are less destructive as an isolated weathering process, and limestone is more vulnerable to salt weathering and chemical pitting (Alves et al, 2021; Beck & Al‐Mukhtar, 2014). Since wetting and drying cycles operate synergistically with other weathering processes, it may be that the reduction in erosion rates observed at KM4 is due to decreases in water loading stresses from waves, as there has also been a substantial reduction in water depth and decreases of incipient onshore wave energy along the Kaikōura Peninsula (e.g.…”

“…Rather, intercalated layers of mudstone will fail as they dehydrate, creating zones of weakness and collapse within the limestone complex. The limestone will, however, be vulnerable to salt weathering, as repeated doses of sea spray will collect on the rock surface resulting in efflorescing and chemical pitting (Alves et al, 2021), or infiltrating the rock matrix leading to haloclastic crystallization and eventual bursting of sub‐surface pores (Coombes et al, 2013) if haloclastic pressure exceeds tensile strength (Mottershead, 1982). In such conditions, it may be expected that the rates of erosion on limestone platforms stabilize quickly post‐uplift, contingent on their textural composition and vulnerability to haloclastic weathering.…”

“…Thus, increased frequency of wetting and drying operates to weaken mudstone; microfractures provide an initial pathway to invade the rock, then water chemically alters clay minerals thereby destabilizing the material structure and further weakening occurs via dissolution of carbonate (Jiang et al, 2014). By comparison, limestone is generally more resistant to fracturing from wetting and drying (Moses et al, 2006) but weathers through salt crystallization, chemical pitting, and macro-and microscale biological exploitation (Alves et al, 2021;Coombes et al, 2013;Coombes & Naylor, 2012;Mottershead, 1982Mottershead, , 1989.…”

Environmental Factor Accelerate the Deterioration of Tuff Stone Heritage: A Case Study of a Stone House in Southeast China

“…Due to their direct exposure to the natural environment, they are affected by solar radiation, water, wind, and other climate factors [1,2]. Among these, water plays a key role, especially for rocks with high porosity [3][4][5][6][7].…”

“…In those rocks containing a large amount of clay minerals, such as montmorillonite, significant volume expansion will occur after water absorption, resulting in many small cracks which destroy the integrity of rock. The long-term dry-wet cycle and freeze-thaw cycle will accelerate the destruction of rock by expansion force [6,12,13]. Lastly, water also causes the bio-deterioration of rocks because water provides suitable conditions for the growth of plants, fungal, bacterial, lichen, or insect colonies.…”