WATER TRANSFER AND DECAY OF GRANITIC STON ES IN MONUMENTS

The pathologies of granitic stones on the monuments of Braga (NW Portu gal) are associated with salt solutions whose source is external to th e granitic stones. Measurements of water porosity, capillary rise and mercury porosimetry were carried out, as well as microscopical observa tion, in granitic rocks from the Braga region with different degrees o f weathering. The development of stone pathologies and their distribut ion in the Braga monuments is related to the homogeneous and well-inte rconnected porous network responsible for the rapidity of capillary im bibition observed in tile granites, in spite of very different porosit y values.