Gravestone Project

Help researchers map the location of graveyards around the globe and then use marble gravestones in those graveyards to measure the weathering rate of marble at that location. The weathering rates of gravestones are an indication of changes in the acidity of rainfall between locations and over time. The acidity is affected by air pollution and other factors, and could be used as a measure of changes in climate and pollution levels.

This project has two levels of data collection. The Graveyard Data level - the location of graveyards - requires only a GPS. The Gravestone Data level - the measurement of the weathering of marble gravestones - requires a micrometer. You can do the first or both tasks, but we strongly suggest that before you purchase a micrometer (available through the EarthTrek online store, at hardware and some hobby stores) that you make sure that you can locate the type of gravestone.

Collecting the location data of the graveyards is an important part of this project. Logging data about graveyards that do not contain the marble gravestones is equally important.