Lidar remote sensing of stone cultural heritage: Detection and characterization of biodeteriogens

Different kinds of organisms can grow on stone substrata. Their presence causes effects, which range from low to severe chemical and physical alterations. Up to now, methodologies are not available to investigate in situ biodeteriogens on stone monuments. The paper discusses the use of the laser-induced fluorescence for the detection and characterisation of biodeteriogens on stone monuments on the base of the experiments recently carried out by the authors. Dolomitic marble samples inoculated with different cell concentrations of two biodeteriogen have been analysed in controlled conditions. The fluorescence spectra are compared in order to investigate the possibility of detecting the biodeteriogens at an early state of development, of identifying them by the spectral signature, and of monitoring the effect of biocidal treatments. Although further investigations are necessary the results confirm the potential of this technique in the non-destructive, remote monitoring of biodeteriogen.