It sounds very much like the opening to a Stephen King classic however Australian researchers have called on individuals, schools and community groups across Australia to visit their local graveyards in a bid to measure climate change through the weathering rate of old marble headstones.



The Geological Society of Australia claims that changes in rainfall patterns, which brings dust and pollutants show how much acid is contained in the rain and therefore can show how much pollution change in climate has occurred over time.



The Society claims two methods can be used to measure the rate of weathering; one is comparing the weathering of the marble headstone over that of the lead used for the letters. The second is to compare the uniform thickness of the headstone where lead lettering wasn't used.



Participants in the gloomily named Gravestone Project will be asked to visit their local graveyard and fix its position using a GPS, then send the information to theEarthTrek website.



All relevant data including dates of death, whether they used lead lettering and weathering rates would be recorded on the site.



President of the Geological Society of Australia, Professor Peter Cawood, said: the terrific thing about EarthTrek is that it will engage the wider community in a whole range of exciting scientific research while also providing enormous people-power to greatly assist the scientists undertaking the research."



He said similar projects worldwide will be used to help monitor a variety of environmental issues.



"EarthTrek projects across the globe will be focusing on critical research into key environmental issues such as climate change, pollution, the spread of noxious weeds and tracking endangered animals, just to name a few."



"By actively engaging the wider community in their work, scientists involved in EarthTrek can substantially increase the amount of data they collect for their research, dramatically raise the profile of their research in the broader community, and provide younger people with a first-hand opportunity to experience the wide range of fascinating work that a career as an Earth Scientist offers, he said.