title: Effectiveness of granite cleaning procedures in cultural heritage: A review.
abstract: Most of the Cultural Heritage built in NW Iberian Peninsula is made of granite which exposition to the environment leads to the formation of deposits and coatings, mainly two types: biological colonization and sulphated black crusts. Nowadays, another form of alteration derives from graffiti paints when these are applied as an act of vandalism. A deep revision needs to be addressed considering the severity of these deterioration forms on granite and the different cleaning effectiveness achieved by cleaning procedures used to remove them. The scientific literature about these topics on granite is scarcer than on sedimentary carbonate stones and marbles, but the importance of the granite in NW Iberian Peninsula Cultural Heritage claims this review centred on biological colonization, sulphated black crusts and graffiti on granite and their effectiveness of the common cleaning procedures. Furthermore, this paper carried out a review of the knowledge about those three alteration forms on granite, as well as bringing together all the major studies in the field of the granite cleaning with traditional procedures (chemical and mechanical) and with the recent developed technique based on the laser ablation. Findings concerning the effectiveness evaluation of these cleaning procedures, considering the coating extraction ability and the damage induced on the granite surface, are described. Finally, some futures research lines are pointed out.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Enxeñaría dos Recursos Naturais e Medio Ambiente, Escola de Minas, Universidade de Vigo, 36310 Vigo, Spain. Electronic address: ipozo@uvigo.es.
authors.forename: J S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Pozo-Antonio
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Enxeñaría dos Recursos Naturais e Medio Ambiente, Escola de Minas, Universidade de Vigo, 36310 Vigo, Spain.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Rivas
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio de Aplicacións Industriais do Láser, Centro de Investigacións Tecnolóxicas, Departamento de Enxeñaría Industrial II, Escola Politécnica Superior, Universidade da Coruña, Campus Ferrol, 15471 Ferrol, Spain.
authors.forename: A J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: López
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio de Aplicacións Industriais do Láser, Centro de Investigacións Tecnolóxicas, Departamento de Enxeñaría Industrial II, Escola Politécnica Superior, Universidade da Coruña, Campus Ferrol, 15471 Ferrol, Spain.
authors.forename: M P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Fiorucci
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio de Aplicacións Industriais do Láser, Centro de Investigacións Tecnolóxicas, Departamento de Enxeñaría Industrial II, Escola Politécnica Superior, Universidade da Coruña, Campus Ferrol, 15471 Ferrol, Spain.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ramil
keywords: Biological colonization; Black crust; Cleaning effectiveness; Cultural heritage; Graffiti; Granite; Stone cleaning