title: Multi-disciplinary characterisation of a sandstone surface crust.
abstract: Sandstones are used in many contemporary and historical buildings. With time, these buildings become dark and a surface crust is formed. Generally, these crusts mainly consist of minerals of which the constituents were mobilised from the interior of the stone, and material from the surrounding environment like air pollutants and dust. Many traditional techniques, such as optical microscopy, Scanning Electron Microscopy and the Drilling Resistance Measurement System, have been used to study these crusts in the past. The advent of more advanced techniques allows a better characterisation of sandstone surface crusts, commonly present in urban stone decay. High-resolution X-ray radiography and tomography, micro X-ray absorption spectroscopy (micro-XANES) and 2D micro-XRF scanning at laboratory and synchrotron sources, combined with more traditional research methods were applied to the study of a sandstone surface crust. This shows that the combination of these highly advanced techniques, which were not designed with the purpose of answering geological or environmental questions, can generate complementary 2D and 3D imagery of geological materials, opening up new approaches in the study of element migration inside porous geomaterials.
  I hereby state that this work is significant to the rest of the scientific community.
authors.affiliation: Department of Geology and Soil Science, Ghent University, Krijgslaan 281 S8, B-9000, Ghent, Belgium. veerle.cnudde@ugent.be
authors.forename: Cnudde
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Veerle
authors.forename: Silversmit
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Geert
authors.forename: Boone
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Matthieu
authors.forename: Dewanckele
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Jan
authors.forename: De Samber
authors.initials: de S
authors.lastname: Björn
authors.forename: Schoonjans
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tom
authors.forename: Van Loo
authors.initials: VL
authors.lastname: Denis
authors.forename: De Witte
authors.initials: de W
authors.lastname: Yoni
authors.forename: Elburg
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Marlina
authors.forename: Vincze
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Laszlo
authors.forename: Van Hoorebeke
authors.initials: VH
authors.lastname: Luc
authors.forename: Jacobs
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Patric
mesh_terms: D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000032:analysis* / Q000737:chemistry; D003252:Construction Materials / Q000032:analysis*; D004577:Electron Probe Microanalysis; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D012822:Silicon Dioxide / Q000737:chemistry; D013499:Surface Properties; D014887:Weather
chemical_list: D000393:Air Pollutants; D012822:Silicon Dioxide