Progress in Physical Geography

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Understanding the decay of stone-built cultural heritage

B.J. Smith, M. Gomez-Heras and S. McCabe
Progress in Physical Geography 2008; 32; 439
DOI: 10.1177/0309133308098119

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Progress in Physical Geography 32(4) (2008) pp. 439–461


Understanding the decay of stone-built
cultural heritage
B.J. Smith,* M. Gomez-Heras and S. McCabe
School of Geography, Archaeology and Palaeoecology, Queen’s University
Belfast, Belfast BT7 1NN, UK

Abstract: The problem of the decay and conservation of stone-built heritage is a complex one,
requiring input across many disciplines to identify appropriate remedial steps and management
strategies. Over the past few decades, earth scientists have brought a unique perspective to this
challenging area, drawing on traditions and knowledge obtained from research into landscape
development and the natural environment. This paper reviews the crucial themes that have arisen
particularly, although not exclusively, from the work of physical geographers – themes that have
sought to correct common misconceptions held by the public, as well as those directly engaged in
construction and conservation, regarding the nature, causes and controls of building stone decay.
It also looks to the future, suggesting how the behaviour of building stones (and hence the work of
stone decay scientists) might alter in response to the looming challenge of climate change.

Key words: durability testing, episodic decay, geomorphology, stress-history, weathering.

I Introduction and background environments, what factors trigger and con-

Stone is widely recognized as an adaptable
and sustainable construction material, with
a low intrinsic carbon signature, and also as a
repository of much of the world’s tangible
cultural heritage. With this recognition of its
value has come an increasing awareness that
stone has a finite life, which can be drastically
curtailed when it is placed in often-aggressive
urban or coastal environments. Because
of this, it is essential that the conservation of
decaying stone (and indeed the choice of new
and replacement stone) is underpinned by
a detailed knowledge of stone behaviour –
how different stone types decay in specific
trol decay processes, and what strategies
may be appropriate in managing decay or
delaying its initiation in the first place. At a
technological level, successful accomplish-
ment of these goals requires the bringing
together of disparate groups of researchers
and practitioners who have historically s
hown limited inclination to exchange ideas
and techniques (Smith, 2003).
Broadly speaking, these groups range
from those interested in the characterization
and weathering of rocks under natural
environmental conditions through to those
concerned with the decay and conservation of

*Author for correspondence. Email: b.smith@qub.ac.uk

© 2008 SAGE Publications DOI: 10.1177/0309133308098119

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440 Progress in Physical Geography 32(4)
stone once it is placed in the built environment
– primarily within a heritage management
context. The former group mainly comprises
academic geomorphologists and geologists,
whereas the latter is principally drawn from
architects, engineers and conservators – this
frontier is what Torraca (1982) termed the
interface between the scientist and the tech-
nologist. Unfortunately, despite their obvious
common interests, these groups generally
lead parallel, separate existences with few
opportunities for face-to-face contact and
little in the way of intellectual exchange. This
separation is manifested in many ways, not
least at a terminological level, but also by at-
tendance at separate conferences, publication
in discipline-specific journals and member-
ship of exclusive professional organizations.
Although one can possibly dismiss this
separation as simply a failure to communi-
cate, there are also deeper, philosophical
divisions. One of the most fundamental of
these is the largely academic preoccupation
with a theoretical search for explanations of
why rock/stone decays – the processes and
mechanisms responsible for decay and the
underlying factors that control them. In con-
trast, conservation professionals are required
to provide practical solutions through appro-
priate treatments and management strategies.
Clearly, however, each approach needs the
other. If academics fail to set process stu-
dies in the context of their wider, practical
significance then they run the risk of pursuing
the irrelevant. Similarly, a failure to accurately
diagnose the causes of decay can often lead
to conservators treating symptoms instead of
causes. As Kant observed: application with-
out theory is blind, whereas theory without
application is mere intellectual play.
In effect, recognition of a need to link
theory to application is a demand for mean-
ingful cooperation between disciplines in
weathering and conservation studies. As
Smith and Turkington (2004) have observed,
many see the solution for this in a multidis-
ciplinary approach. The difficulty with this is
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that in reality multidisciplinarity is invariably
used as an umbrella term that defines the
nature of the problem and describes the phy-
sical make-up of the research team. In con-
trast, interdisciplinarity hopefully describes
the nature of the solution. Central to an inter-
disciplinary approach is the requirement for
discourse between disciplines, recognition
of the possible synergies that stem from the
integration of different strategies and know-
ledge bases, an appreciation of where other
disciplines are coming from and a willingness
to learn and borrow from others.
The need for an interdisciplinary approach
to the management of stone-built heritage
has been accentuated in recent years by rec-
ognition of the inherent complexity of the
processes involved. Stone decay invariably
combines physical, biological and chemical
processes under the control of geological and
environmental factors. This is even before
any consideration of the cultural, societal,
economic and institutional contexts within
which the stone is used and under which any
conservation strategies must be employed.
The growth of this complexity has made it
less and less likely that any individual can claim
true mastery of all aspects of the problem. It
has also reinforced the need for specialists to
share their collective insights and experience
if potentially contentious conservation issues
are to be successfully addressed.
II Attempts to bridge the
interdisciplinary divide
It was in the spirit of the above observations
that, in the early 1990s, the Stone Weathering
and Atmospheric Pollution NETwork
(SWAPNET) was established. This began as
an informal grouping of researchers interested
primarily in understanding the processes
responsible for the decay of stone exposed to
a wide range of atmospheric conditions in the
urban environment and built on collaborations
established through the UK Government’s
wide-ranging study of pollution-related stone
decay in the 1980s (DoE, 1989). In particular,
 B.J. Smith et al.: Understanding the decay of stone-built cultural heritage
the group sought to bring together and cross
the boundaries between researchers with
interests in natural weathering processes,
and those with expertise in the decay of stone
used in construction. The initial stimulus for
the group was provided by a geographer,
R.U. Cooke (then of University College
London, where the first lunchtime meetings
of SWAPNET were held), who had been at
the forefront of championing the role of the
geomorphologist in explaining the effects of
acid deposition on stonework (Cooke, 1989).
It is perhaps also no accident that it should
have been a desert geomorphologist who
instigated these discussions given, as Winkler
(1975) points out, the similarities in weather-
ing processes between bare rock exposed
in salt-rich desert environments and the ex-
posed stone of buildings in equally salt-rich
polluted urban settings. These discussions
identified and emphasized the multidisciplin-
ary nature of stone decay problems and the
need for interdisciplinary research if these
problems were to be successfully addressed.
SWAPNET has attempted to address these
issues through a succession of annual meet-
ings, initially within the UK and subsequently
across Europe, designed specifically to pro-
mote discourse between researchers and
practitioners from disparate backgrounds.
This strategy is firmly rooted in the belief
that important conceptual developments in-
variably come interstitially – not from within,
but at the boundaries between, disciplines.
Out of these meetings has come a succession
of publications that arguably provide the
most comprehensive linked record of stone
decay research available (see the list of
SWAPNET publications at the end of this
paper), comprising an important resource
not only for the established researcher, but
also for those new to the field who require an
overview of how ideas have developed over
the last decade. These volumes have been
supplemented in recent years by a number
of publications (for example, Pope et al.,
2002; Smith et al., 2005a) that have sought
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441
specifically to demonstrate how studies of
urban stone decay have informed our under-
standing of natural rock weathering. But
within all these publications a number of
themes have developed (raised from the
unique perspective of the physical geo-
grapher), often associated with attempting
to undo sometimes-damaging views among
the wider public, as well as those directly
engaged in construction and conservation, as
to the nature, causes and controls of building
stone decay. An overview of these themes
that have sought to correct misconceptions
follows.
III Common misconception 1: placing
stone in a building immunizes it from
natural weathering processes
It is not the case, contrary to the common
belief among many involved in construction,
that the cutting and placing of stone in a
building in some way ‘switches off ’ natural
weathering and decay. The assumption that
placing stone in a building immunizes it from
the natural processes of weathering is partly
the consequence of a lack of public awareness
of weathering processes and what controls
them. This is also reflected in the commonly
held view that where rapid decay does occur
it must be either accidental or the result of
some unscrupulous, misplaced human activ-
ity. The most obvious and widely acknow-
ledged human intervention is the exposure
of stone to aggressive environmental con-
ditions resulting from high levels of atmos-
pheric pollution, commonly linked to an
increase in the acidity of rainfall. Support for
this view is drawn from examples of very
ancient stone buildings that survived for
hundreds, if not thousands of years until
the advent of industrialization and its asso-
ciated pollution. Such references conven-
iently ignore, however, the multitude of other
structures that have not survived. Similarly,
earlier conservation and replacement can
be forgotten or ignored. For example, we
often neglect the fact that many of the great
442 Progress in Physical Geography 32(4)
‘medieval’ cathedrals of England underwent
major programmes of stone replacement and
the removal of surface decay (dressing back)
in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
Two very dangerous consequences of this
way of looking at building stone decay (as
opposed to natural rock weathering) is the
view that the processes responsible for the
two must be different and if the immediate
causes of ‘accelerated decay’ are removed
the stone will cease to alter and it will then
be safe to undertake remedial action such as
stone cleaning.
The reality is, of course, that questions of
why and how building stones decay are much
more complicated than these simple assump-
tions. The fundamental processes behind
building stone decay and rock weathering are
essentially the same, although the ingredients
and how they are mixed can differ quite sig-
nificantly. Placing stone in a building does not
cut it off from natural patterns of weathering;
instead it superimposes on top of natural pro-
cesses new, additional, sets of conditions and
factors that interact in complex and often un-
predictable ways to produce new patterns and
rates of decay. Buildings in a polluted town
near the coast will still, therefore, be exposed
to aggressive conditions linked to the deposi-
tion of marine salts. However, the effects of
these salts will now be combined with the
actions of other salts produced from atmos-
pheric pollutants, in mixtures that can be
significantly more aggressive than when pre-
sent individually. Often these combinations
will act synergistically; for example, the
presence of sodium chloride can enhance
the solubility and penetration of pollution-
derived calcium sulphate (Turkington and
Smith, 2000; Warke and Smith, 2000) and,
sadly for most buildings, the combined rate
of decay will be greater than the sum of the
individual effects.
The physical act of placing stone in a build-
ing creates a wide range of new physical,
chemical and environmental conditions that
can markedly alter its response to natural
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weathering processes. Principal among these
factors is the way in which the location and
geometry of a building can influence the
degree of exposure to (and shelter from) sun,
rain and wind. The importance of the degree
of exposure stems from its relationship with
patterns of wetting, drying, heating and
cooling. These in turn influence factors such
as the frequency of salt crystallization and,
ultimately, the rate at which stone weathers.
The most obvious control in this respect is
aspect. Aspect will, for example, determine,
exposure to wind-driven rain (arguably the
most effective mechanism for wetting stone)
and the duration and intensity of exposure to
incoming solar radiation. This in turn controls
the physical stresses experienced by the stone
through repeated expansion and contraction
and differential ‘time of wetness’. The conse-
quences of these controls may not, however,
be simple or straightforward. For example,
in contrast to several studies that link south-
facing façades with higher decay rates due to
higher insolation (Paradise, 1999), it is com-
mon in the British Isles for greatest decay to be
observed on the shaded, north-facing eleva-
tions of buildings (Robinson and Williams,
1996). This might suggest that ‘time of
wetness’ and the ability of salt solutions to
soak into the stone might be of equal, if not
greater, significance than high thermal stresses
in causing many types of decay. However,
aspect is not always controlled by the cardinal
compass points – these wider environmental
influences can be overridden by the effects
of specific macro-environmental conditions.
For example, the pattern of airflow around a
building will also influence evaporation rates
and the deposition of pollution particles on
stonework. The shape of the building in turn
influences the airflow and even very subtle
changes in surface detail can have a major
effect on patterns of soiling.
The complex three-dimensional geometry
of buildings also provides opportunities for
‘convergent’ weathering as moisture, tem-
perature and other environmental gradients
 B.J. Smith et al.: Understanding the decay of stone-built cultural heritage 443

intersect across corners. It is for this reason

that architectural detail and carvings are
particularly prone to decay and invariably the
first areas of a building to disappear.
In addition to these environmental fac-
tors, there are physical stresses exerted by
surrounding materials, such as, for example,
the type of mortar used. Construction can,
for example, subject stone to compressive,
shear and in some instances tensile stressing.
Most importantly, mortar typically constrains
individual blocks during expansion caused by
chemical alteration, interstitial salt crystal
accumulation/growth and temperature/
moisture cycling. Kane (1999; explained in
Smith et al., 2005b) investigated these effects
by conducting salt weathering experiments
in which granite cores were constrained be-
tween steel plates. The results suggest that
compression initially inhibited decay com-
pared to unconstrained cores through closing
any existing micro-fractures normal to the
axis of compression. In doing so, it also Figure 1 ‘Boxwork’ on a building
caused the material to behave inelastically. constructed from Globigerina Limestone,
Consequently, in response to repeated low- Malta, where the retreat of the stone has
magnitude stressing as the samples heated left the ‘rigid’ mortar to stand proud
and cooled, a network of micro-fractures was
developed obliquely to the axis of compres-
sion that eventually led to more rapid decay In summary, it can be seen that buildings
than for unconstrained blocks. This effect is provide complex, dynamic environments
commonly observed both in nature, in the that expose their stonework to numerous
form of the ‘buttressed expansion’ of, for possibilities for decay and alteration. The
example, large rock masses (Hall, 1999), and form that this decay takes is dependent not
on buildings where the use of ‘rigid’ mortars in just on the present-day environment, but is
combination with softer stonework can lead determined in great part by the history of
to disruption of the stone during expansion, construction and previous environmental
producing a honeycomb or ‘boxwork’ effect conditions and treatments. The precise con-
as mortars are left proud of the retreating sequences of these environmental factors
stone (see Figure 1). are in turn affected by the characteristics
Chemical decay can also be encouraged by of the stones under consideration, which
surrounding materials. The use of different strongly influence the weathering processes
stone types in combination can trigger decay to which they are susceptible and hence their
where, for example, calcium sulphate salts resistance to decay and overall durability.
produced by the reaction of atmospheric Understanding stone decay, and all that
sulphur with carbonate stones and from this entails for sustainable construction and
lime-based mortars can wash into adjacent, conservation, therefore requires a sound
non-calcareous stonework (Cooper et al., understanding of the weathering processes
1991; O’Brien et al., 1995b). responsible and the ability to recognize their

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444 Progress in Physical Geography 32(4)
symptoms in the shape of the decay features
and products they create.
IV Common misconception 2:
environmental controls are largely
secondary to the physical properties
of stones as determinants of their
durability
It is no surprise, given that those who work in
the construction industry are drawn primarily
from engineering backgrounds, that emphasis
is placed on physical characteristics when
both specifying stone and explaining the
reasons why stone ultimately fails. There are
notable exceptions to this rule – for example,
the seminal studies of the microclimates
associated with buildings by Camuffo (sum-
marized in his influential book of 1998). But
this is the exception and, in this context,
one of the most significant contributions
that geographers and other environmental
scientists have made in understanding the
complex reality of stone decay has been to
explain the importance of environmental
controls on decay and durability, and the
subtle ways in which they operate.
Central to this strategy have been investi-
gations of the role of temperature in driving a
wide variety of physical decay mechanisms,
especially those involving salt. In doing this,
researchers have had to counter the still com-
monly held belief that temperature change
alone is a major cause of stone failure. If it
were to occur, the most obvious mechanism
would be for the outer surface of the stone
to heat more rapidly than the heat could be
transmitted into the stone. Such a thermal
shock (Yatsu, 1988) would cause the near-
surface layer of the stone to thermally expand
more rapidly than the interior, setting up
stresses that cause it to fracture and break
away from the interior. Thermal shock and
this type of spalling does occur, but most
obviously in response to the extremely high
temperatures and rapid temperature rises
associated with close proximity to a fire (eg,
Ollier and Ash, 1983; Gomez-Heras et al.,
2006a; McCabe et al., 2007a). In reality,
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under most environmental conditions, rapid
temperature changes and the steepest sur-
face/subsurface temperature gradients are
normally associated with the rapid cooling
of a stone after protracted heating (Gomez-
Heras et al., 2006b) – especially under low
ambient air temperatures and clear skies
that allow rapid radiative cooling. From this
can be inferred that it is not so much high or
low temperatures that are important, but
the rapidity and frequency with which tem-
peratures change – especially within the
outer few millimetres of a stone where most
weathering occurs through effects such as
granular disaggregation (Gomez-Heras et al.,
2008). Frequency is important because in
addition to potential breakdown in response
to a thermal shock there is the possibility
that stone can be induced to eventually fail
through fatigue failure by subjecting it to
repeated, smaller-scale stresses (Halsey
et al., 1998).
Until relatively recently, it was assumed
that the most important temperature cycles
driving weathering were the diurnal ones
associated with day/night heating and
cooling – although the absolute temper-
atures involved will obviously vary from
season to season. More recently, however,
as more accurate temperature measurement
has become possible – especially pinpoint
measurements within stone using thermistors
and surface measurements using infrared
thermometers – researchers have come to
understand that surface and near-surface
temperatures can fluctuate very rapidly dur-
ing the day as, for example, surfaces are
shaded by clouds or cooled directly and
indirectly by the wind (Jenkins and Smith,
1990). These short-term changes, often only
15–30 minutes in duration, can set up internal
temperature gradients and stresses mark-
edly higher than those driven by diurnal
changes. Admittedly, these are restricted to
the outer few millimetres, but experiments
have shown that they can be effective in
generating breakdown when employed in
salt weathering simulations (eg, Warke and
 B.J. Smith et al.: Understanding the decay of stone-built cultural heritage
Smith, 1994a) and, as noted above, this is the
very zone from which material is lost (Gomez-
Heras et al., 2006b). Recognition of these
short fluctuations, superimposed on diurnal
cycles, significantly increases the possibility
of fatigue failure, and it has been especially
promoted in a series of recent papers by Hall
and co-workers who have quantified rapid
near-surface temperature change under
natural conditions (Hall and Andre, 2001) and
have proposed that differential expansion
and contraction is accentuated at the micro-
scale by thermal and crystallographic mis-
matches between crystals and grains (Hall
and Andre, 2003; Hall et al., 2008) that could
lead to thermal stress fatigue failure (Hall,
1999). They emphasize that such effects
could be accentuated where, for example,
stone is rapidly heated by insolation under
very cold air conditions (Hall and Hall, 1991),
but more recently Gomez-Heras et al. (2008)
have shown significant differential inter-
crystalline thermal response to heating and
cooling under simulated and actual Mediter-
ranean conditions.
When this combination of seasonal,
diurnal and short-term fluctuations in tem-
perature is superimposed on the complex
geometries of a building it is inevitable that
it translates into an equally complex pattern
of spatial variability in the temperature
regimes experienced. At one level, diurnal
heating controlled by the passage of the sun
through the sky would emphasize aspect
effects and help to explain differences be-
tween different façades on a building. In con-
trast, the importance of localized shading
and wind patterns in controlling short-term
fluctuations could help to explain why, on any
one façade, there are localized differences in
patterns and rates of decay (Turkington and
Smith, 2004; Gomez-Heras et al., 2008).
This, in turn, highlights the importance of
microclimatic controls on weathering envir-
onments that has been long acknowledged
in literature on natural weathering, the
effects of which are superimposed on the
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445
physical properties of the stone to highlight
and accentuate differences between them.
Warke (2000) has drawn particular atten-
tion to the significance of conditions at the
rock surface/atmosphere interface in con-
trolling the operation of a range of weathering
mechanisms and the inappropriateness of
relying upon macro-scale meteorological
parameters (often designed and collected
specifically to avoid localized variability) to
characterize micro-scale weathering pro-
cesses and phenomena. Shading is par-
ticularly significant in this context, in that
heating of rock surfaces by direct insolation
elicits significantly different responses from
adjacent rocks (and minerals) in response
to their different thermal characteristics.
In contrast, stone surfaces heated by con-
duction from the overlying air under shaded
conditions are driven through the same
thermal regime irrespective of their indi-
vidual thermal characteristics (Warke and
Smith, 1998). Included among the thermal
characteristics that dictate the thermal re-
gimes experienced when stones are heated
by insolation are thermal conductivity and
heat storage capacity, which together exert
a major influence on subsurface temperature
gradients (Kerr et al., 1984; McGreevy,
1985). Thus, stones with a low thermal con-
ductivity but high heat storage capacity will
experience steep gradients and localized
stressing because the surface of the stone
will heat up more rapidly than the absorbed
energy can be transmitted into it. The
magnitude of these stresses will also be
influenced by other properties such as the
coefficient of thermal expansion of the stone.
Of all the thermal properties that influence
temperature the most obvious is albedo
(Peel, 1974). This can go some way towards
explaining different susceptibilities to a range
of weathering processes between stones
of different colour, but it also highlights the
significance of the soiling of stone surfaces.
This effect was studied by Warke et al. (1996)
who artificially soiled a range of stone types
446 Progress in Physical Geography 32(4)

to demonstrate distinctly differing before- Figure 2) develop and create a secondary

and-after thermal responses to simulated
insolation cycles, which have significance
not just for internal thermal regimes, but also
for related environmental cycles, including
drying rates. Albedo and thermal response
can also be altered significantly, and in a
series of experiments and trials Carter and
Viles (2003; 2004; 2005) have not only
illustrated the impacts of lichen growth on
rock temperatures, but also investigated the
concept of bioprotection of stone.
The spatial variability of thermal regimes
across a building façade are clearly not con-
stant and most obviously vary in response to
seasonal variations in the length of daytime
and the passage of the sun. In addition, how-
ever, micro-environmental conditions at
the rock surface can change dramatically as
weathering forms such as honeycombs and
cavernous hollows (alveolar weathering; see
surface topography that casts very different
patterns of light and shade. Geomorpholo-
gists have played a very important role in
understanding the environmental signifi-
cance of surface morphological change and
associated feedbacks through their inter-
ests in the cavernous weathering of natural
rock surfaces – especially in desert and mari-
time environments (Turkington, 1998).
Central to this has been the proposal that
once hollows are initiated they appear to
create shaded micro-environments that
self-organize morphologically to minimize
surface area (Turkington and Phillips, 2004),
while creating an internal micro-climate
that favours moisture and salt penetration/
retention, and therefore accelerates further
weathering and erosion (Dragovich, 1967;
1981; Smith, 1978; Smith and McAlister,
1986; Migon et al., 2005). This contention

Figure 2 (A) Alveolar weathering of calcareous sandstones in a salt-rich maritime

environment, Yehliu, Taiwan; (B) Alveolar weathering on a building constructed from
Globigerina Limestone, in the salt-rich maritime environment of Malta

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 B.J. Smith et al.: Understanding the decay of stone-built cultural heritage
was explored experimentally by Turkington
et al. (2002), who instrumented a sandstone
block for internal temperature and moisture
measurement and, by ‘pulling it’ back into an
artificial wall, created a progressively larger
cavern in front of it. By subjecting the block
to cycles of heating/cooling and wetting/
drying at successive stages of withdrawal,
they were able to demonstrate that within
caverns these cycles tended to be restricted
to the outer few millimetres of the stone at a
scale that is commensurate with the multiple
flaking and granular disaggregation that is
typical of cavern interiors. These and other
experiments subsequently formed the basis
of a model to explain the isolated, cata-
strophic retreat of individual building blocks
that is common on many buildings in salt-
rich environments (Smith et al., 2002; Smith
and Viles, 2006) – a model that is comple-
mented by, for example, the work of Huinink
et al. (2004), who used a detailed analysis of
salt migration to model the development
of single caverns.
In summary, apart from the positive influ-
ence that temperature has on the speed of
almost all chemical reactions, temperature
change is always linked to and working with
changes in other weathering mechanisms
and controls. For example, it is temperature
that drives salt weathering mechanisms.
Furthermore, all stones carry within them
stress histories or legacies of previous con-
ditions that have affected their composition
and structure – these weaknesses can be
exploited by expansion linked to heating
and cooling without necessarily having been
caused by it in the first place.
V Common misconception 3: decay is
related primarily to current conditions
Stone has a long memory. In nature, debris
of all sizes typically carries with it morph-
ological and stress histories that reflect
formation (often at high temperatures
and pressures), subsequent exposure at
the Earth surface, and an often complex
and superimposed history of weathering,
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447
erosion, transport and deposition. This is
embodied in geomorphological literature in
processes such as the dilatation of granite
that produces complex joint systems and
may leave the stone with a complex network
of inter- and intracrystalline fractures that
can ultimately lead to grussification. Fol-
lowing initial weathering and release of
blocks from the rock mass, Warke (2007)
has exemplified the acquisition of a complex
history by debris in Death Valley that origin-
ated in a high mountain environment and
was episodically moved through a variety
of fluvial environments before coming to
rest on the salt-rich valley floor where the
ultimate pattern of salt weathering and
complete breakdown is strongly influenced
by individual stress histories.
In the same way as natural rock weather-
ing acquires complex stress histories, con-
tained within any building stone are structural
and chemical legacies of all previous stresses,
going right back to before it was quarried.
These inherited features can take many
forms and range from networks of micro-
fractures caused by the quarrying process
and previous weathering to pollutants and
their byproducts such as salts that have
become incorporated into the stone. Warke
(1996) categorized them as either pre- or
post-emplacement. Pre-emplacement in-
heritance includes dilatation for certain
stone types, but for others can include a vari-
able period of ‘curing’, whereby often initially
soft stone is cut from a quarry and left to
harden in response to environmental cycles
of heating/cooling and wetting/drying.
Stones within this category include laterite,
which is widely used as a construction
material across the Tropics (including key
heritage sites such as Angkor Wat), and a
range of porous stones, including some as
emblematic as Portland limestone, that are
widely used across Europe. The length of
the curing period can significantly affect
subsequent performance and, for example,
Sir Christopher Wren is known to have
visited the Portland quarries and selected
448 Progress in Physical Geography 32(4)
stone to be put aside for curing many years
before it was eventually used in the recon-
struction of St Paul’s Cathedral. Subsequent
performance can, however, be influenced by
a wide range of other pre-emplacement fac-
tors. Included in these is the surface dressing
of the stone. Roughened stonework provides
a greater specific surface to react with the
environment, as well as sheltered hollows
protected from rainwash in which aerosols
and salts can accumulate. Smooth stone
has reduced opportunities for particulate
retention, but repeated environmental cycl-
ing into exposed smooth surfaces increases
the susceptibility of salt-contaminated por-
ous stone to effects such as contour scaling.
The type of finish given to a stone is, of course,
only one of a number of inheritances that
can be imparted to stone either prior to it
being placed in a building or during the time
that it is in the building.
The most obvious example of ‘post-
emplacement’ change is the accumulation
on and within the stone of pollution-derived
salts, but it can also include changes in stone
properties such as porosity – indeed it is pos-
sible for stone to inherit one or more of the
full panoply of weathering phenomena and
structural legacies before the conservator
finally encounters it. Often, this encounter
comes hard on the heels of a decision that
it is safe to clean and conserve a building
following, for example, the enactment and
successful enforcement of clean air legis-
lation. In such situations, the existence of a
complex memory can have numerous conse-
quences. It can, for example, explain why
stone continues to decay even after pollution
levels have been reduced. Moreover, it means
that every stone in a building has its own
unique history. Thus, when new blocks of the
same stone are inserted during conservation,
it is unlikely that they will ever match the
appearance of the surrounding stone be-
cause they will not have been exposed to the
same historical conditions, and even under
stable conditions the new stone will always
be playing ‘catch up’. For this reason it could
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sometimes be appropriate not to replace like
with like, but to choose an alternative that
is chemically and physically compatible but
which will alter more rapidly to match in ap-
pearance the original stonework.
Often the conservation process itself can
add to the memory of a building stone. The
inappropriate use of hard mortars, either
initially or during repointing has already
been mentioned, but inappropriate chemical
cleaning can also lead to accelerated algal
colonization and the ‘greening’ of buildings
(Warke et al., 1999). Neither are the effects
of inheritance limited to heritage in the built
environment. Curran et al. (2002) have, for
example, shown how burial of a Bronze Age
stone circle in Northern Ireland for 2000
years left it exceptionally prone to frost
damage after excavation. Memories can
also be superimposed successively over the
lifetime of a historic structure. As an example
of this, McCabe et al. (2008) have shown
how a medieval sandstone friary in Northern
Ireland has experienced a complex history
of rendering, removal of the render, fire, sig-
nificant climate change during the Little
Ice Age and inappropriate conservation
intervention in the twentieth century. As a
consequence, long-term exposure in a mari-
time environment has produced a complex
patchwork of weathering related to the
differing stress histories of individual stone
blocks (McCabe et al., 2007b). They have
also demonstrated that replicating these
stress histories for sandstone test blocks
under laboratory conditions can produce
markedly different decay pathways when
they are subsequently subject to a combin-
ation of simulated frost and salt weathering
(McCabe et al., 2007a; 2007c).
VI Common misconception 4: stone
performance is satisfactorily predicted
through short-term durability testing
Because of the complicating issues explored
in the previous section, it is clearly import-
ant that, in addition to issues such as aes-
thetics and structural suitability of stone for
 B.J. Smith et al.: Understanding the decay of stone-built cultural heritage
a particular purpose, expensive decisions
related to the specification of new and re-
placement stone – as well as the cleaning
and conservation of old stone – have to
be underpinned by a sound knowledge of,
or appropriate advice on, its weathering
characteristics. At one level this relates to
straightforward questions of how long the
stone will survive under particular conditions
of use and exposure, ie, its durability. Within
the stone industry the most widely used test
for durability is the sodium sulphate test
that builds on a long history of development
that began as a means of replicating frost
damage to stone (de Thury, 1828; see also
Schaffer, 1932; Minty, 1965; Price, 1978).
This involves the alternate wetting by total
immersion in a saturated sodium sulphate
solution and drying out of small test cubes
and the assessment of performance through
what is usually very rapid weight loss. This
test is straightforward, does not require
complex equipment or calculations and is
readily replicable, but although it may give
an indication of relative durability it does
not specify even in broad terms how long
a stone will actually survive in a particular
environment, when used for a particular
purpose, and it will definitely not indicate
how decay may progress over long periods
of time.
Such questions are important in terms of
stone specification because they link not only
to actual durability but also to problematic
questions of design and aesthetics, including
that of how stone, and hence the building,
will appear once it has come into equilibrium
with local environmental conditions. Surface
change can take place very quickly, and his-
torically it was not uncommon in polluted
environments for buildings to show signs of
surface staining and colouration even before
they were completed. Partly because of this,
there are many examples of historic buildings
from areas such as the Mediterranean region
that were artificially aged by the application
of organic substances – including blood, egg,
milk, urine – to form a surface coating or
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449
patina of calcium oxalate (see Vazquez-Calvo
et al., 2007, for a recent review), which also
had the benefit of hardening the outer sur-
face and possibly delaying decay. A good
architect will take these potential changes
into account and, all other things being equal,
a building should acquire and carry grace-
fully a patina that reflects its age and history.
Because of this need to understand not just
how quickly stone will disintegrate and
erode, but also how it will weather in situ,
geomorphologists have developed a particu-
lar interest in the precise simulation of weath-
ering processes under controlled laboratory
conditions – especially salt weathering.
Early simulations of salt weathering
(eg, Cooke and Smalley, 1968; Goudie et al.,
1970) borrowed directly from durability tests
and were interested primarily in establishing
league tables of the most durable rock types
and the most aggressive salts (eg, Goudie
et al., 1970; Goudie, 1974; Cooke, 1979). They
also suffered, as pointed out by McGreevy
and Smith (1982), from the same shortcom-
ings of standard durability tests, in that they
typically used aggressive salts in high con-
centrations that were not representative of
the salt mixtures often associated with salt
weathering, they often dried samples at
unrealistically high temperatures, and they
used unconfined blocks that were smaller
than many of the decay features observed
in salt-rich environments and the structural
controls, such as bedding, that could influence
patterns of decay. Since these early, but
groundbreaking simulations, much effort has
gone into the development of more realistic
simulations that in many cases emphasize
the importance of environmental controls on
decay. These improvements have included:
the use of more realistic temperature re-
gimes (Goudie, 1993); the focusing of mois-
ture, salt and temperature cycles through one
exposed face (Smith and McGreevy, 1983;
1988); one-off wetting with salt solutions
(Smith and McGreevy, 1988; Goudie, 1993);
the replication of salt damage linked to capill-
ary rise (Goudie, 1986; Benavente et al., 2001)
450 Progress in Physical Geography 32(4)
and direct deposition by dew and mist (Smith
and McGreevy, 1988; Goudie and Parker,
1998; Goudie et al., 2002; Smith et al., 2002);
the use of representative salts in appropriate
concentrations and mixtures (Williams and
Robinson, 1998; Robinson and Williams, 2000);
the replication of specific decay phenomena
and salt distributions (Davison, 1986; Smith
and McGreevy, 1988; Gomez-Heras and Fort,
2007); the use of large test blocks (Curran
et al., 2001); the combination of salt and
frost weathering (Williams and Robinson,
1981; 2001; McGreevy, 1982; Jerwood et al.,
1990a; 1990b; Warke and Smith, 2007); the
testing of samples with complex stress his-
tories (Warke and Smith, 1994b; McCabe
et al., 2007c); the testing of confined sam-
ples (Kane, 1999); the linking of laboratory
simulations directly to field observations
(Robinson and Williams, 2000; Goudie et al.,
2002); and controlled experiments con-
ducted in the field (Goudie and Day, 1980;
Goudie and Watson, 1984; Goudie et al., 1997).
Ironically, as simulations have become
more precise and less overwhelming they
have also allowed controls exerted by mat-
erial properties, such as porosity controls on
internal salt distribution to become more
apparent during the course of experiments
(Nicholson, 2001; Smith et al., 2002). Con-
certed efforts to understand the various salt
weathering mechanisms also resulted in the
bringing together by two geographers of
what is undoubtedly the most comprehen-
sive overview of the salt weathering (Goudie
and Viles, 1997). This has proven to be invalu-
able, not just as a manual for those involved
in detailed weathering simulations, but also
as an education in the complexity and poten-
tial dangers of the process for architects and
conservators.
VII Common misconception 5: decay
is a steady and continuous process that
can be extrapolated from short-term
monitoring
Much current knowledge on building stone
decay appears to have been overly influenced
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by the performance characteristics of a
limited number of comparatively durable
stones, such as dense marbles and, in the UK,
Portland limestone, used in prestigious build-
ings. These stones are largely resistant to
physical damage and decay in these cases
is driven primarily by dissolution. The rate
of solution is influenced by factors such as
rainfall amount, timing and chemistry. Thus,
with a knowledge of atmospheric condi-
tions, decay rates are assumed to be largely
predictable from short-term observation.
Indeed this rationale formed the basis of
many attempts to model the effects of dis-
solution of limestones by acid rain both under
experimental conditions (eg, Haneef et al.,
1990a; 1990b; Johnson et al., 1990) and in
nature through the monitoring of solute loads
from experimental micro-catchments (eg,
Reddy, 1988; O’Brien et al., 1995a). This pro-
cess was paralleled in the UK in the 1980s and
1990s by the National Materials Exposure
Programme (NMEP). This came out of the
Buildings Effects Review Group initiative and
linked the performance of a range of build-
ing materials to meteorological conditions
at 29 sites across the country. This exercise
was part of the wider International Mat-
erials Exposure Programme set up under the
United Nations Economic Commission for
Europe framework that exposed materials
to polluted environments across Europe
and North America. For the UK and European
programmes, the ‘clean site’ against which
pollution impacts could be assessed was
Lough Navar in the west of Northern Ireland.
This choice of site is interesting, in that a
study of Portland limestone from nearby
Castle Coole (constructed between 1789 and
1798) identified severe material loss through
salt weathering and dissolution related to
salt-laden rains from the Atlantic (Smith
et al., 1991) that required wholesale stone
replacement. This is perhaps further evidence
to why natural weathering should not be
discounted in studies of building stone decay.
Numerous questions are raised by the
extrapolation of long-term erosion rates
 B.J. Smith et al.: Understanding the decay of stone-built cultural heritage
from such studies and the extent to which
rates derived from laboratory experiments
are indeed representative of rates observed
in nature. Trudgill and Viles (1998), for ex-
ample, have asserted that for the chemical
weathering of limestones, ‘relevant labor-
atory rates may be used to predict the order
of magnitude of field rates, though not the
precise rate’ (p. 339). They were even more
circumspect concerning physical and bio-
logical weathering and considered that
‘we are very far from having representative,
replicable rate measurements from either
field or laboratory studies’ (p. 339). At the
centre of such conclusions are a range of
field measurements and trials that have
indicated considerable temporal and spatial
variability in erosion rates. In the case of
limestones, Trudgill et al. (1989) have used
repeat micro-erosion measurements from St
Paul’s Cathedral in London to demonstrate
erosion rates that differ significantly from
those predicted from a theoretical analysis
of potential solution related to rainfall pat-
terns and chemistry. They attribute this in
particular to the importance of the residence
time of water on, and within, the pores of
stone in controlling solution rates. Other trials
using, for example, small exposure tablets
exposed in different cities have demonstrated
the importance of both local and regional
pollution differences and gradients, as well as
stone type in controlling rates of weathering –
including biological colonization and chemical
alteration (Smith et al., 1994b; Turkington
et al., 2003; Thornbush and Viles, 2006).
Similar trials have also indicated the rapidity
with which the surface characteristics of a
stone can be significantly altered (eg, Viles,
1990; Smith et al., 1993; Zappia et al., 1998)
and the potential impact that this can have
on a stone’s long-term performance through
altering the absorption of moisture and dis-
solved salts and the rates at which moisture
is subsequently lost through evaporation.
The importance of local and regional cli-
matic and pollution rates on long-term rates
of erosion are also documented in studies
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451
of the recession rates of gravestones in, for
example, the UK (Cooke et al., 1995) and
the USA (Meierding, 1981). Such studies can
also be used to identify differential erosion
related to aspect (Robinson and Williams,
1999; Meirding, 2004), as well as changes
in rates over time as regional patterns of air
pollution have varied (Meierding, 1993). This
approach has recently been extended to the
measurement of the recession rates of build-
ing blocks (Meierding, 2005). Recession rates
are, of course, likely to be highly influenced by
the stone in question. For example, Roberts
(2005), in a study of Marble tombstones in
Montana, found surface recession to be linear
over time. This contrasts with a study of sand-
stone gravestones by Matthias (1967), who
identified distinctly non-linear rates of reces-
sion, whereby long periods of apparent stab-
ility could be overtaken by instantaneous
loss as complete sections of stone fell away.
The reality that stone weathering and
associated erosion is non-linear does, of
course, come as no surprise to those who
study granular stone used in construction,
where the sudden loss of material is wide-
spread and the rapid, catastrophic decay
of individual blocks after long periods of
apparent stability is commonplace. Indeed,
Viles (2005) has cogently advocated that
non-linearity in stone decay systems is both
common and can lead ultimately to a chaotic
response by stonework. She points out that
such non-linear and chaotic systems dynamics
have been long recognized in many earth
surface systems (eg, Thornes and Brunsden,
1977) and is an advocate of knowledge trans-
fer between earth scientists and building
conservators. Especially important in the
context of non-linear systems is trying to
understand and remediate ‘hotspots’ of
decay on a façade that appear to be unrelated
to any specific weakness in the stone or
environmental condition. In a non-linear,
chaotic world such hotspots could develop
spontaneously, in which case a probabilistic
rather than a deterministic model might be
more appropriate for their prediction.
452 Progress in Physical Geography 32(4)

As indicated above, non-linear behaviour of a salt weathering-friendly microenviron-

is particularly common on sandstones, which
do not decay gradually, but instead experi-
ence seemingly unpredictable, episodic and
sometimes catastrophic breakdown. This
occurs as the balance between material
strength and environmental stress is breached
by gradual internal decay, the accumulation
of internal stresses and/or extreme external
stresses such as a severe frost. Episodes of
rapid decay can be interspersed with periods
of relative stability that may be marked by
surface induration through, for example,
the formation of a pollution-derived calcium
sulphate crust (Smith et al., 2003) or a case-
hardened outer skin through the outward
migration and precipitation of iron from
within the stone (McAlister et al., 2003).
Ultimately, however, a point appears to
be reached where positive feedbacks are
triggered – possibly linked to the creation
ment in front of individual blocks as they
retreat – and rapid, catastrophic material loss
occurs. These relationships are summarized
in Figure 3. Important examples of these
stones are the quartz sandstones widely
used across north and northwest Europe.
Characteristically, such stones are prone to
disruption by accumulated salts that produce
rapid surface retreat by contour scaling,
granular disintegration, and flaking (Smith
et al., 1994a) (see Figure 4). Recognition
of this distinctive decay pathway, and its
potentially catastrophic impact on sand-
stone structures, resulted in a three-year
project to model the feedback mechanisms
that control the rapid decay of sandstones
in buildings (see Smith et al., 2002, for a
summary). However, it became apparent
that a similar, threshold-based approach
to understanding decay pathways might

Figure 3 Hypothetical decay pathways for quartz sandstone used as a building

material in a polluted environment. The inset identifies feedback options at critical
thresholds of decay associated with rapid surface loss of material
Source: Adapted from Smith et al. (1994a) and Smith (2003).

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 B.J. Smith et al.: Understanding the decay of stone-built cultural heritage 453

also be applied to certain clastic and oolitic VIII Where to now?

limestones used in construction (Smith and
Viles, 2006). Research into understanding
the catastrophic decay of such limestones is
currently under way (see Figure 5), details
of which can be found at www.qub.ac.uk/
geomaterials/epsrc/index.htm (www.
limestonedecay.org).
This overview has not set out to be exhaustive
and has, for example, not examined in any
detail the potential role of frost in causing
damage to stone-built heritage – although
there are strong arguments that its role is
possibly less than one would suspect be-
cause of elevated air temperatures within

Figure 4 Scales of material loss on a quartz building sandstone: (A) salt efflorescence
and granular disaggregation; (B) flaking; (C) contour scaling; (D) catastrophic retreat of
an entire block

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454 Progress in Physical Geography 32(4)

Figure 5 Scales of material loss on a building limestone in Oxford: (A) blistering; (B)
blistering developing into hollows; (C) different surfaces on a limestone block due to
crust detachment and regrowth; (D) catastrophic retreat of an entire block

the urban envelope and the widespread pre-
sence of salt (plus the higher temperatures
that stone attains under insolation in com-
parison to air temperatures). In comparison
to salt weathering, freeze thaw also re-
quires the crossing of a relatively precise
environmental threshold, whereas salt,
by potentially operating through thermal
expansion and hydration/dehydration, as
well as crystallization, can exploit a wide
range of environmental fluctuations to
cause damage. One specific role of freeze
thaw might, however, be to act as an infre-
quent high-magnitude event that could open
up pores and fractures to be subsequently
exploited by more frequent salt weathering

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 B.J. Smith et al.: Understanding the decay of stone-built cultural heritage
(Warke et al., 2004; 2006). Likewise, only
passing reference has been made to the
whole area of biodeterioration. This has al-
ways been central to stone decay and is
likely to grow in significance as we become
more aware of the interactions and syner-
gies between the physical, chemical and bio-
logical processes involved in stone decay.
What the discussion has set out to estab-
lish, however, is the importance of fully
understanding decay processes and how
crucial this is for the successful diagnosis of the
causes and controls of building stone decay,
and ultimately for sustainable conservation.
Geographers have already played an import-
ant part in promoting accurate diagnosis (see
Smith and Prikryl, 2007) and could potentially
make an even greater contribution with the
growing recognition that controls on decay
processes are rapidly changing. Because of
this, it is increasingly necessary to under-
stand decay, not just in a dynamic world, but
a world in which the nature of the dynamics
is constantly changing. The most high profile
of these changes is undoubtedly the question
of how stone will react in response to the
varied manifestations of climate change (eg,
Brimblecombe and Grossi, 2007). A recent
European project has, for example, produced
model-based maps of changing sandstone
moisture contents showing current very dry
conditions across Europe and even drier
trends in future (NOAH’S ARK, 2007).
Within the UK, Viles (2002) has concluded
that future climate change is likely to result
in increased salt crystallization damage in a
progressively drier southeast, in contrast to
enhanced chemical weathering in the north-
west of the country. This trend has been
supported by the research of Smith et al.
(2004) who have suggested that increased
winter wetness in the northwest may already
be leading to increased algal growth on
buildings, deeper penetration of moisture
and associated salts and the possibility that
these salts are beginning to move within
saturated stonework by diffusion rather
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455
than in solution. They also identify the pos-
sibility that algal colonization may be
assisted, and the overall response of built
heritage influenced, by changing patterns
and intensities of atmospheric pollution as
legislation is progressed and patterns of
economic activity change. Principal among
these is the dramatic reduction in sulphur
dioxide in the urban atmosphere, together
with the localized rise in nitrogen oxides in
many cities associated with increased vehicle
pollution (Schiavon et al., 2004). As a con-
sequence, one is less likely to see the wide-
spread development of soiling by black
gypsum crusts and more likely to encounter
complex biomineralogic crusts and staining
as elevated levels of nitrogen encourage
algal and other growths in atmospheres still
rich in atmospheric particulates. One con-
sequence of this is that, as discovered by
Grossi et al. (2006) working on the Tower
of London, buildings are now more inclined
to follow other patterns of colour evolution,
related possibly to enhanced biological pro-
cesses and changing sources of pollution
(Bonazza et al., 2007) than to turn black (see
Figure 6). These shifts in response to changing
Figure 6 Blackening and greening
of building sandstone in the polluted
maritime environment of Belfast,
Northern Ireland
456 Progress in Physical Geography 32(4)
environmental conditions will require a sig-
nificant modification of stone cleaning and
conservation procedures. Indeed, there is
already a more widespread, pre-emptive
use of biocides and this increased wetness
could stimulate a renewed interest in water
repellents that fell out of favour during the
1990s. The concern with water damage has
also encouraged a range of research initi-
atives in the area, including the development
of innovative electrical resistance methods
for mapping moisture (Sass and Viles, 2006)
for the non-destructive mapping of moisture
distribution and change within stonework,
and in the development of appropriate cap-
pings to limit moisture ingress into historic
masonry (Viles and Wood, 2007).
As well as changes in the colour of soiling,
the distribution of soiling across façades and
hence the overall appearance of buildings
also appear to be changing. Previously, black
crusts of potentially soluble gypsum and
soot particles tended to accumulate in areas
sheltered from rain. In contrast, biological
soiling tends to occur preferentially on slop-
ing surfaces exposed to rainwash that are
likely to be wetter than other areas on a build-
ing. If these changing patterns become estab-
lished, it is likely that conservators will have
to rethink their strategies and perhaps give
greater consideration to the use of biocides
and the development of appropriate protocols
for their application in a wetter world.
This ‘inversion’ of traditional soiling pat-
terns could have a significant impact on
the appearance of a building, people’s atti-
tudes towards it, and the value they place
on it (Andrew, 2002; Brimblecombe and
Grossi, 2005). For more information on the
study of decay aesthetics, see the website
of the Robert Gordon University Masonry
Conservation Research Group. Such consid-
erations are important, in that the majority
of stone cleaning is undertaken for aes-
thetic rather than structural purposes, and it
seems increasingly self-evident that science
cannot be divorced from the socio-economic
Downloaded from http://ppg.sagepub.com at Univ Complutense de Madrid on October 8, 2009
environment within which its findings are
hopefully employed. There is therefore a
need for those interested in the science of
stone and building conservation to reach out
directly to those with a duty of care for built
heritage, and to engage with those respon-
sible for its sustainable management. Co-
operation must not, however, stop at those
directly involved in and responsible for herit-
age management. An essential component
of this engagement is an understanding of
the changing values that society as a whole
places on stone-built heritage, and the re-
quirement that successful management must
also reach out to and involve the wider stake-
holder com-munity in any decision-making
process. Only through this value-based ap-
proach, and the public explanation of sci-
ence, can scientific research on the decay
of stone-built heritage acquire the social
relevance it deserves.
Acknowledgements
Support for this paper was provided in part by
EPSRC Research Grant EP/D008603/1, and
we would also like to thank Gill Alexander for
preparing the figures.
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