The interaction between micro-organisms and natural stone surfaces has been studied in great detail in the past. The destructive mechanisms of micro-organisms can be roughly subdivided into (a) chemical attack and (b) physical attack. Microorganisms may physically destroy the structure of stones by creating an inter-granular swelling pressure. Recently, it has been shown experimentally that black spots formed by yeast-like fungi lead to a local temperature increase by selective absorption of solar radiation. The maximum temperature observed for clean marble surfaces remained below the maximum temperature observed on inoculated surfaces. As a consequence, thermal dilatation of inoculated marble was shown to be more important. Destruction of the heated stone occurs predominantly if there exists a thermal gradient. In this paper, temperature distribution in clean and stained marble plates have been simulated numerically. Thermal eigenstresses have been determined. It is shown that tensile stresses of up to 5 N/mm2 can be expected. This may cause damage in weak zones of the surface. A sudden driving rain leads to much higher stresses. Cyclic thermal loading may eventually destroy the surface by fatigu
