2. In New York City\'s Central Park, many bridges were built using various rock

Question

2. In New York City's Central Park, many bridges were built using various rock types (e.g., sandstone, limestone, marble, granite and more) from sources across the U Northeast and Canada. For more than 140 years, a variety of processes have weathered these bridges. As air pollution from the burning of fossil fuels has increased, acidity in rain and snow has hastened weathering rates, a problem compounded by the use of salts on the roads crossing the bridges during the winter. Based on the description a answer the following questions 1) List, specifically, all possible weathering processes that may be involved in Central Park's bridges. Briefly describe how each of the weathering processes works. 2) If you are a Central Park's manager, how would you manage to mitigate the weathering of the bridges, therefore to keep them safe and to extend their life span?

Explanation / Answer

1)

the following are the weathering processes that can affect the rocks used in making bridges:-

a) Air pollution - burning of fossil fuels produces many harmful gases like CO, CO2, SO2 etc these gases reacts with rocks directly or indirectly causing them to weather. for example CO and CO2 can react with water or can be incorporated in rain to fall as acid rain, it can damage the cement in the rocks as well as it can dissolve the limestones.

b) snow- even naturally snow is one of the most important method of weathering. during the dip in temperatures even water between the small cracks of rocks or cementing material can freeze and expand, regular freezing of water can damage the rocks.

c) usage of salt - putting salt on the pathways during winters produces more water which enters the cracks of rocks and then damaging it.

2) to mitigate the threat of weathering and save the bridges from damage, I as a manager would take certain measures like, regularly cementing the cracks so that water couldnot enter and further detriorate them, bridges that are made of soft rock like limestone and sandstone should be given some protective coating during rainy season protecting them from acid rain..

  

Related Questions

Navigate

• Browse (All)
• Browse 2
• Subjects

---

---

Integrity-first tutoring: explanations and feedback only — we do not complete graded work. Learn more.