Abstract
Because it lies to the northwest of mainland Europe, Northern Ireland experiences little background atmospheric pollution. Urban areas such as Belfast can, however, experience high atmospheric concentrations of smoke and sulphur dioxide from local sources. In Belfast, sandstone decay (the principal building stone) can be severe and a wide range of salt weathering phenomena occur. Salts — primarily gypsum — can derive from particulate deposition, particularly of fly ash, or the reaction of mortars with atmospheric sulphur. Caution is urged in ascribing all stone decay to atmospheric pollution as similar breakdown is caused by salts from marine aerosols and spray, groundwater and road de-icing.
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© 1991 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
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Smith, B.J., Whalley, W.B., Magee, R.W. (1991). Background and Local Contributions to Acidic Deposition and their Relative Impact on Building Stone Decay: A Case Study of Northern Ireland. In: Longhurst, J.W.S. (eds) Acid Deposition. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-76473-8_16
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-76473-8_16
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