Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
5468655 | Applied Clay Science | 2017 | 8 Pages |
Abstract
Asbestos is a term commonly used to refer to those silicate minerals that show a typical fibrous habitus and crystallize as separable fibres. For the past decade, considerable research has focused on the strong correlation between deadly diseases and the exposure to asbestos-like minerals present in different environmental matrices. These harmful minerals generally occur as naturally exposed friable fibres that can be easily released into the environment as a result of both natural processes and anthropogenic activities. At the Calabria-Lucania boundary (southern Italy), the intense spreading of the asbestos fibres is also a consequence of the cataclastic features of the serpentinite outcropping. Therefore, it is necessary to intensify the geo-environmental monitoring in this area. The identification of asbestiform minerals in serpentinites is generally brought about by techniques requiring sample preparation such as: Scanning Electron Microscopy - Energy Dispersion Spectrometry, Transmission Electron Microscopy, X-ray powder diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, polarized light optical microscopy, and differential thermal analyses. In this work, we evaluate the use of μ-Raman spectroscopy, on both low and high wavenumbers, in identifying the different serpentine and amphibole minerals. The comparison between the μ-Raman spectroscopy and X-ray powder diffraction is also discussed based on analytical procedures and results.
Related Topics
Physical Sciences and Engineering
Earth and Planetary Sciences
Geochemistry and Petrology
Authors
Maria Carmela Dichicco, Angela De Bonis, Giovanni Mongelli, Giovanna Rizzo, Rosa Sinisi,