MICROELEMENT COMPOSITION OF RAPAKIVI GRANITE AS AN OUTSIDE BUILDING MATERIAL AND THE EFFECT OF AIR POLLUTION ON COMPOSITION VARIATION : Case of Saint-Petersburg
Grishina, Daria (2014)
Mikkelin ammattikorkeakoulu
2014
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Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2015092914979
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2015092914979
Tiivistelmä
This Bachelor thesis is commissioned by Geologian Tutkimuskeskus (GTK), Finland as a part of South-East Finland - Russia ENPI CBC Programme aiming to investigate efficient use of natural stone in the Leningrad region and South-East Finland. The chemical composition of granite, as a vastly used building material, falls inside the ENPI Programme interest providing the basis for creating an extensive database on chemical variations in granite composition which can be stipulated by different natural and human-induced factors.
Saint-Petersburg city center which is famous for its granite architectural ornamentation becomes the object of the thesis investigation, aiming to study the influence of major anthropogenic air pollution sources, defined through the literature review, on buildings and constructions found in the city center and made of rapakivi granite.
The results of chemical analysis of rapakivi granite samples obtained from 9 sampling points were undergone further examination determining macro and micro element composition variations in crust and fresh parts with their comparison to reference materials provided by previous research done within GTK projects.
The variations of macro elements composition show the natural processes of stone weathering at a low level (proved by a number of weathering indices); while the variations of micro elements present a certain accumulation of the following elements in samples crust: Cd, As, Pb, Ce, Zn, Cu, La, Ba, Sr, Mo, S, Sb.
The chemical elements found in exceedance have an anthropogenic, mainly traffic-induced, origin. The general pathway of accumulation is through the deposition together with city dust. The contamination of urban air with heavy metals cause threat to human health increasing the risks of cancer cases, cardiovascular and respiratory diseases and built environment forming a dirty layer on building surfaces. As such, the problems of Saint-Petersburg air quality should attract more attention with aims of constant improvement in the future.
Saint-Petersburg city center which is famous for its granite architectural ornamentation becomes the object of the thesis investigation, aiming to study the influence of major anthropogenic air pollution sources, defined through the literature review, on buildings and constructions found in the city center and made of rapakivi granite.
The results of chemical analysis of rapakivi granite samples obtained from 9 sampling points were undergone further examination determining macro and micro element composition variations in crust and fresh parts with their comparison to reference materials provided by previous research done within GTK projects.
The variations of macro elements composition show the natural processes of stone weathering at a low level (proved by a number of weathering indices); while the variations of micro elements present a certain accumulation of the following elements in samples crust: Cd, As, Pb, Ce, Zn, Cu, La, Ba, Sr, Mo, S, Sb.
The chemical elements found in exceedance have an anthropogenic, mainly traffic-induced, origin. The general pathway of accumulation is through the deposition together with city dust. The contamination of urban air with heavy metals cause threat to human health increasing the risks of cancer cases, cardiovascular and respiratory diseases and built environment forming a dirty layer on building surfaces. As such, the problems of Saint-Petersburg air quality should attract more attention with aims of constant improvement in the future.