Are there stone-eating bacteria?

©Jupiter Images, 2009

Thiobacillus thioparus is a sulfur-oxidizing bacteria that eats through stone.

Stone-eating bacteria belong to several families in the genus Thiobacillus. They can cause damage to monuments, tombs, buildings, and sculptures by converting marble into plaster.

Sulfur-Oxidizing Bacteria

The principal danger seems to come from Thiobacillus thioparus. This microbe's metabolic system converts sulfur dioxide gas (found in the air) into sulfuric acid and uses it to transform calcium carbonate (marble) into calcium sulfate (plaster).The bacilli draw their nutrition from carbon dioxide formed in the transformation. Nitrobacter and Nitrosomonas are other "stone-eating bacteria" that use ammonia from the air to generate nitric and nitrous acid, and there are still other kinds of bacteria and fungi producing organic acids (formic, acetic, and oxalic acids), which can attack the stone as well.

Increase in Bacteria from Industrial Emissions

The presence of these microbes was first observed by a French scientist, Henri Pochon at Angkor Wat, Cambodia, during the 1950s. The increase of these bacteria and other biological-damaging organisms that threaten tombs and buildings of antiquity are due to the sharp climb in the level of free sulfur dioxide gas in the atmosphere from automotive and industrial emissions.

Related articles

• Who devised the current animal and plant classification system?
• What are petite yeasts?
• Which biological events occurred during the geologic time divisions?

Search the Web

• What preventative methods are used against stone-eating bacteria?
• What famous monuments or statues have been affected by stone-eating bacteria?
• Are there stone-eating fungi?

Bookmark and share

facebook digg Del.icio.us Technorati Diigo reddit Newsvine Stumbleupon Yahoo My Web Google Bookmarks Windows Live Twitter MySpace