Impacts of industrial emissions on rock art at Murujuga, Western Australia

Impacts of industrial emissions on rock art at Murujuga, Western Australia | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Impacts of industrial emissions on rock art at Murujuga, Western Australia K. A. Evans, Bec O’Leary, Tommaso Tacchetto, Ryan Mead-Hunter, and 4 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8191621/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 17 Mar, 2026 Read the published version in Scientific Reports → Version 1 posted 6 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract The Murujuga Archipelago, Western Australia, hosts over one million petroglyphs preserving indigenous knowledge spanning 50,000 years. This globally significant and newly UNESCO listed world heritage site is co-located with heavy industry. Low values of pH on patinated rock surfaces have provoked concern that acid rain from reactive industrial emissions is dissolving the patina, with negative consequences for rock art, and implications for rock art conservation and the world heritage listing. That paradigm is based on the assumptions that rain in Murujuga is acidic and that damage would be recorded primarily by the patinated surface. Via an innovative multidisciplinary statistically based integration of geochemical, environmental, and air-quality data, we show that the rain is not acidic, that rock surface pH patterns do not reflect current air-quality patterns, and that the porosity of the outer layer of granophyre rocks is elevated in areas where historic SO2 emissions were highest. These findings suggest that the acid deposition theory is incorrect, that damage at Murujuga is likely historic, and that the patina substrate may provide a new sensitive and reliable monitor of damage that can be used at heritage sites worldwide. Murujuga rock art pH acid rain NOx SOx Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 17 Mar, 2026 Read the published version in Scientific Reports → Version 1 posted Editorial decision: Accepted 10 Mar, 2026 Reviews received at journal 11 Feb, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 01 Feb, 2026 Reviewers invited by journal 01 Feb, 2026 Submission checks completed at journal 31 Jan, 2026 First submitted to journal 30 Jan, 2026 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-8191621","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":593775923,"identity":"0ff4a546-6061-4566-ab65-c759fa4cecaa","order_by":0,"name":"K. A. 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This globally significant and newly UNESCO listed world heritage site is co-located with heavy industry. Low values of pH on patinated rock surfaces have provoked concern that acid rain from reactive industrial emissions is dissolving the patina, with negative consequences for rock art, and implications for rock art conservation and the world heritage listing. That paradigm is based on the assumptions that rain in Murujuga is acidic and that damage would be recorded primarily by the patinated surface. Via an innovative multidisciplinary statistically based integration of geochemical, environmental, and air-quality data, we show that the rain is not acidic, that rock surface pH patterns do not reflect current air-quality patterns, and that the porosity of the outer layer of granophyre rocks is elevated in areas where historic SO2 emissions were highest. These findings suggest that the acid deposition theory is incorrect, that damage at Murujuga is likely historic, and that the patina substrate may provide a new sensitive and reliable monitor of damage that can be used at heritage sites worldwide.","manuscriptTitle":"Impacts of industrial emissions on rock art at Murujuga, Western Australia","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2026-02-23 03:09:38","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8191621/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0},{"type":"decision","content":"Accepted","date":"2026-03-10T05:51:53+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2026-02-11T19:45:23+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"177981551604599729735612473684355737490","date":"2026-02-01T15:39:26+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewersInvited","content":"","date":"2026-02-01T09:00:58+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"checksComplete","content":"","date":"2026-01-31T12:22:19+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"submitted","content":"Scientific Reports","date":"2026-01-30T12:41:20+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"scientific-reports","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"scirep","sideBox":"Learn more about [Scientific Reports](http://www.nature.com/srep/)","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"","title":"Scientific Reports","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"stoa","reportingPortfolio":"Scientific Reports","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"807f3e17-c858-4ee6-937f-7cb52b01a0e7","owner":[],"postedDate":"February 23rd, 2026","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"published-in-journal","subjectAreas":[],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2026-03-23T15:59:55+00:00","versionOfRecord":{"articleIdentity":"rs-8191621","link":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-44180-6","journal":{"identity":"scientific-reports","isVorOnly":false,"title":"Scientific Reports"},"publishedOn":"2026-03-17 15:57:27","publishedOnDateReadable":"March 17th, 2026"},"versionCreatedAt":"2026-02-23 03:09:38","video":"","vorDoi":"10.1038/s41598-026-44180-6","vorDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-44180-6","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-8191621","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-8191621","identity":"rs-8191621","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"XKTyCvWXoU3ODBz1xrDgd","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}