Abstract
In this article damage functions and mechanism equations areelaborated for Massangis limestone, exposed to ambientatmospheric conditions. Limestone slabs were placed in fivedifferent environments in Belgium and run-off water wascollected for chemical analyses, over a 3 yr period. Toelucidate the weathering mechanism and the relativecontributions of different deleterious factors, calciumconcentrations in run-off water were regressed versus thetotal (wet + dry) deposition of ions onto the stone, gaseousatmospheric pollutant concentrations and meteorological parameters. The data matrix (30 000 analytical results) was interpreted using Multiple Linear Regression (MLR) and PartialLeast Squares Regression (PLS). Mechanism equations and damagefunctions were first established for each of the five studiedsites separately and subsequently pooled regressions were calculated. A damage function is proposed and compared with limestone damage functions found in the literature, after introducing the field data presented in this work into the respective functions. Massangis limestone mass loss is bestpredicted with a PLS model. Rainwater volume is the most decisivefactor in causing mass loss at all sites, and sulphate andbicarbonate are the most important weathering products.Models established using MLR result in less reliablepredictions of mass loss compared to PLS.
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Delalieux, F., Cardell-Fernandez, C., Torfs, K. et al. Damage Functions and Mechanism Equations Derived from Limestone Weathering in Field Exposure. Water, Air, & Soil Pollution 139, 75–94 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1015827031669
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1015827031669