Stone Decay in the Architectural Environment Book

Given the conditions in which many manmade structures were built and where they stand, it is simple to understand how extremes in temperature and other conditions can affect the stone with which they are built. What is not simple are the means of understanding stone decay and conserving materials and structures. In these six papers contributors describe urban stone decay as the great weathering experiment, ask if stone decay can be chaotic, describe the weathering of serpentine stone buildings in the Philadelphia region using a geographic approach to acidic deposition, examine surface-recession weathering of marble tombstones with new field data and constraints, revisit Petra in terms of sandstone weathering research, and characterize swelling in clay-bearing stone. The papers include extensive illustrations and references. Annotation © 2006 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR