Chemical and Biochemical Onslaught of Anthropogenic Airborne Species on the Heritage Monument of the Taj Mahal
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
The theme of work is quite interesting. In general, I consider that some parts of the text need to be reformulated in order to improve the reading and general understanding of this study. As general remarks, I suggest that the authors consider the following aspects:
1) I believe it is essential that images and results are presented in the sequence in which they are referred to in the body of the text. Presenting all the data at the end of the article obliges the reader to interrupt the reading, which makes it more difficult to follow the reasoning expressed by the authors.
2) In the section 1.6 Sampling, I consider that the text could be more related to the sampling carried out for this study. As it is written, the reader has the idea of the context, but does not understand exactly what was sampled, how many samples were taken? The section 2. Materials and methods start with comments more related to sampling. In this case, it would not be better to join these two sections?
3) The authors chose to write a section for presentation of the results and another for the discussion. However, in the discussion there is again presentation of results. I believe that presenting the results and discussing them in the same section may be more efficient for understanding the text.
4) In my opinion the conclusion it was lacking to relate the results obtained in the study with the hypotheses for what the authors believe may be related to the type of marble deterioration in the case of the Taj Mahal.
Specifically, about the text:
Lines 32 and 33: Didn't understand the phrase (…) the Taj Mahal due to its immaculate beauty and charm attracts a wider area of aesthetic concern. The authors would like to emphasize the preference of tourists for visiting the Taj Mahal, due to the impact by the building being white?
Lines 36 and 37: As the abbreviation for Taj Trapezium Zone (TTZ) was added, on line 36, the acronym could have been used to replace the written expression on line 37. It no makes sense to indicate the abbreviation, if you don't use it after.
Lines 60 and 61: In the phrase: This report provided a precise but thorough study on the interdisciplinary approach to the aspects of conservation of the Taj Mahal monument - it is BUT or AND? I don't understand the phrase how it was written.
Line 236: What is the purpose of the process of preparation of black crust samples with washing in nitric acid?
Line 250: In this line is mentioned the XRD data for summer, winter and composite mixture, but at no time until this part of the text is clearly explained that the samples were collected or separated according to this criterion. This must be indicated in the sampling or methodology section.
Line 341: Evidences of metal particulates embedded on the algal mass could be seen in the SEM images. To write a statement like this, the evidences should be indicated in SEM's image.
Line 394: On the same line is written two times in a row "analyzed BY EDS". Is it possible to rewrite this phrase?
Line 494: Wouldn't it be SEM imaging?
Typographical errors:
Line 7: Department of Chemistry , Industrial and Applied Chemistry , - Delete the existing space before the comma
Line 8: Confirm that there is double space between the words Belurmath Howrah and between the “;” and the email address
Line 19: (ROS).These – Missing space after the point
Line 42: and11 - Lack of space
Line 52: surfaces(marble) – Lack of space before parenthesis
Line 53: Agra , - Eliminate the space between the word and the comma
Line 54: The authors should standardize where to place the bibliographic reference. Or write them all before the dots or after.
Line 55: carbon ,Brown – Place the comma in the correct place
Line 81: 50µm – The numbers must be separated from the units. Correct this throughout the text.
Line 106: rainfall.The – Missing space after the point
Line 109: (Figure 2)Sulfur – Missing space after parenthesis
Line 121: 199,7 – Place the comma after the 7
Line 132: The symbol for degrees Celsius is oC. In this case, all temperatures must be written such as: 26 oC, 39 oC, 27 oC, etc. Correct along the text.
Line 134: 60 %to 90 %during – Space after the “%” symbol. Standardize writing.
Line 135: 60% to 95 %, 30 %to 60 % - Standardize the writing
Line 140: 1400, 000 – Remove the space after the comma
Line 141: km13.The – Missing space after the point
Line 143: 324.This - Missing space after the point
Line 157: has150 – Lack space after “has”
Line 161: zardozi,(zari – Missing space after comma
Line 162: clothes)marble – Missing space after the parentheses
Lines 215 and 216: 1- and 2- Replace the “-“ by parentheses: 1) and 2)
Line 218: cyano- bactéria – Remove space after the hyphen
Line 242: 0-900.XRD - Missing space after the point
Line 243: Software.IR - Missing space after the point
Line 262: feldspar)gives reflections at3.31 (…) 3.29A0,albite – Lack of space after parenthesis, after “at” and after the comma
Line 281: Crust:(Figure 5,a)The – Lack of space after the ":" and the parenthesis
Line 286: (Figure 5,b):The - Lack of space after the ":"
Line 294: cm-1,mixed - Missing space after comma
Line 295: 518 cm-1 , Delete the space before the comma
Line 298: (Figure 7a):The summer season water – Space is missing after the ":". Confirm that there is double space after the word "season"
Line 300 - carboxylic , (…) cm-1corresponding – Eliminate space after the word "carboxylic" and add space after cm-1
Line 301: cm-1,stretching - Missing space after comma
Line 302: cm-1,C-H deformation of CH2 and CH328groups at 1462 cm-1,O-H - Missing space after comma and after reference
Line 309: (Figure 7b):The - Lack of space after the ":"
Line 311: cm-1,C-H - Missing space after comma
Line 315: (Figure 7c):The - Lack of space after the ":"
Line 316 and 317: There's a comma alone at the beginning of the line
Line 320: cm-1 , - Eliminate space before comma
Line 323: cm-1,tri (…) 18625px-1,aryl - Space is missing after the commas and after the number
Line 324: monosubstituted26 or C-H at 17400px-1 respectively – Eliminate double space after reference and add space after number
Line 335: (Figure 8b):The - Lack of space after the ":"
Line 337: (Figure 8c):The - Lack of space after the ":"
Line 362: by the: Eliminate double space
Line 363: showed a: Eliminate double space
Line 365: of micro: Eliminate double space
Line 388: industrial,signatures - missing space after comma
Line 397: habits- octagonal – Eliminate space
Line 400: semi –arid – Eliminate space
Line 425: Kin – Separate K in
Line 477: structures –tri – Eliminate space after the word "structures”
Line 512: extending the – Eliminate double space
Line 516: vis- a- vis – Eliminate space after hyphens
About figures and tables:
Figure 3: The images are in low resolution. Missing identification of XRD peaks.
Figure 4: Missing XRD peaks identification
Figure 5, 6 and 7: There is no reading for the identification of the FTIR bands
Figure 8: Image in low resolution
Table 1: There is no indication in the table of what are the results for summer (I), Winter (II) and Composite (III). The table displays several formatting errors that must be corrected. In addition, the results have several mineral components in common. Wouldn't there be another way to present this table in a simpler way?
Table 2: Fix formatting errors
References:
Why are only references 48, 49 and 50 are with bold indications?
Author Response
please see the attachment.
Author Response File: 
Author Response.docx
Reviewer 2 Report
The paper is well written and I enjoyed reading this paper. In the paper is considered a significant research, the Chemical and biochemical onslaught of Anthropogenic Airborne Species on the Heritage Monument in the Taj Mahal (World Heritage construction). The paper analyses qualitative and quantitative variables related with the case study under analysis. This study provides the nature of onslaught borne out by such monument exposed under the prevalent smoggy environmental scenario. The structure of the paper is ok.
The section 1 Introduction must include suitable references of previous works developed. In this moment, I cannot identified any reference. I understand the Authors are based on ... ? Please, the Introduction must be reorganized and improved consciously.
The section materials and methods is not clear, sample preparation? the methodologies are inside of subsection 2.1. Sample preparation?
The article does not include adequate literature review. References (51) are not included in the text? What? I cannot understand why/how the Authors include references at the end of the paper if these are not included in any paragraph of the whole file. This is a basic principle when a research paper is written.
Results and discussion could be reorganized in just an unique section.
Figures must be improved.
Conclusions are insufficient. This sections must be improved
Future research?
In my opinion, the whole paper must be significantly improved, so major revision or clearly rejected, the paper presents serious deficiencies.
Author Response
please see the attachment.
Author Response File: Author Response.doc
Round 2
Reviewer 2 Report
The authors have not addressed all of the comments proposed by reviewers.
The research structure of the paper present serious problems. I cannot identify the background section or methodology
I could not found the paper considerably improved, and I suggest the editors reconsider the paper after major revision. In my opinion, I do not suggest accept it in the present form. References are not correctly identified in the text. Figure 1 should be improved using more picture of the spectacular building under analysis and location, where it is located.
Sections 1.1., 1.2. and 1.3. under my opinion it is Methodology NOT Introduction.
Section 3.1. Marble characterization? It should be moved to materials and methods. Many inconsistences related with the structure of the paper it is possible to identify in the revised version of the manuscript.
Results could be very interesting for the research area and I think the paper can be very interesting for the readers of Heritage journal, but not in the present form. Right now, everything it is mixed.
Good luck!
Author Response
please see attachment.
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
