In addition to such health complications, fallout
deposits as little as 3 mmhave been shown to cause serious damage
to a variety of vulnerable elements, including buildings, machinery, lifelines,
and agriculture. For example, tephra deposits just millimeters
thick can cause significant harmto water quality, increasing the turbidity,
lowering the pH, and adding harmful chemical substances to water
sources (Blong, 1984; Wilson et al., 2012).