Abstract

In this paper it is reported an experimental approach for assessing marble response to the activity of rain anions. For this study it was considered to extract a nucleus from a marble stone, divided into slabs which were placed into 0.1M solutions of HCl, CaCO₃, H₂SO₄ and distilled water as a blank. Weathering evolution was followed throughout register of: slab mass weight, solution pH and electrical conductivity, plus some images were taken from the top of each slab with an inverse stage microscopy.

Results have provided evidence that the most aggressive anion was chloride since it produces the biggest weight loss, and although sulfate favors weight gain it produces marble degradation by forming gypsum and fracturing the structure. Also it became evident that pH solution trend is close to neutrality for HCl, CaCO₃ and H₂O, but H₂SO₄ goes to acidic values, also electrical conductivity have an inverse correlation in the case of sulfate.

Keywords: Marble; Weathering; Chloride; Sulfate; Carbonate