Resumen
The science on the anthropogenic airborne aerosols impacting the World Heritage marble monument, the Taj Mahal, at Agra, has been studied in the light of modern physico-chemical approaches. The study is an effort to understand unrecognized airborne species which were found on the surface of the Taj Mahal monument. These species have been analyzed in the light of current analytical methods to impart characterization features and their possible impacts on the surface of the marble. Chemical constituents of these substrates, which were incorporated over the top surface of the monument, have been identified. Interestingly, the carbon particulates which were found on the micro level, popularly called ?particulate matters?, have now been identified in the nano domain entity, which is chemically more reactive, and have been found on the surface of the monument. Because of their high chemical activity, these nano carbons have a newer chemistry in the presence of air and sunlight, generating several reactive oxygen species (ROS). These ROS are capable of responding to complicated chemical reactions on the surface of the marble in association with deposited cyanophyceae and other deposits of plant origin, causing rapid degradation. This study provides the nature of the onslaught of such monuments exposed under the prevalent smoggy environmental scenario.