Distribution and effects of fungi on sandstone with reference to Bhimkichak temple, Malhar of Chhatisgarh

Stone cultural heritage materials are at risk of bio-deterioration caused by diverse populations of microorganisms living in biofilms. The microbial metabolites of these biofilms are responsible for the deterioration of the underlying substratum and may lead to physical weakening and discoloration of stone. Fungal ability in production of pigments and organic acids have crucial role in discoloration and degradation of different types of stone in cultural heritage objects. Additionally, stone objects may support novel communities of microorganism that are active in biodeterioration process this investigation focused on mycological analyses of microbial biofilm from Bhimkichak temple, Malhar of Bilaspur District of Chhattisgarh state which is made of sand stone and which were heavily colonized by fungi. The eight fungal species on sand stone were isolated. Aspergillus sp. was common in stone structure. The identified micro fungi cause discoloration as well as mechanical exfoliation of building stone material that was analyzed through mechanical hyphae penetration and production of dark pigments and organic acid.