Left: Dr Arpita Mandal, Senior Lecturer, Dept of Geography and Geology, UWI Mona. Right: Dr. Sudeshna Basu, Lecturer (Teaching), Chemical Engineering and Senior Research Fellow, Earth Sciences, UCL 

At team from the Dept. of Geography and Geology headed by Dr. Arpita Mandal have been awarded funding to study "The role of moisture in the deteriorating of limestone used as building stones: A comparative study of London and Kingston". The study is in collaboration with a team from University College London (UCL) led by Dr. Sudeshna Basu (Dept. of Earth Sciences) and supported by Global Engagement Fund, UCL. Limestone is a common building stone in London, and while different types of limestone are used, the Portland Stone, a well-cemented oolitic variety, also used in the construction of UCL is the most common. In Kingston, Jamaica, limestone occurs in outcrops as White and Yellow Limestone groups and are used in the construction of different heritage sites and university buildings. It is important to understand the decay processes of limestone, influenced by observed and predicted climate change, in order to identify suitable interventions to minimize their deterioration. In the study, the suitability of the limestone as building materials will be investigated, taking into account their journey from the quarry to the construction site and focusing on any role of moisture in the degradation processes. Other collaborators are Drs. Y. D. Aktas and S. Orr (UCL) and Prof. Simon Mitchell (UWI-Mona) as well as students from both Universities.