Birkenhead residential air fall dusts: Microscopic and Xray diffraction characterisation

Optical microscopy was used to characterise airfall material depositing on several houses in the residential area adjacent to Adelaide Brighton Cement's ABC facility at Birkenhead.
The deposited dust consisted mainly of coarse grained (>10 micron) crustal minerals, however the presence of up to ~ 20% cement phases indicate that reactive material is deposited on the surrounding environment, resulting in damage to residents property.
The report concludes up to 30-60% of air fall dusts originate from ABC, and proposes the hydration of cement phase particles as a mechanism that leads to adherence to and corrosion of surfaces such as cars, roofs and window sills.