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Environmental Earth Sciences

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01-11-2014 | Original Article

Asbestos fibre identification vs. evaluation of asbestos hazard in ophiolitic rock mélanges, a case study from the Ligurian Alps (Italy)

Authors: Gianluca Vignaroli, Paolo Ballirano, Girolamo Belardi, Federico Rossetti

Published in: Environmental Earth Sciences | Issue 9/2014

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Abstract

In recent years, the high incidence of harmful health effects through inhalation of airborne asbestos from amphibole-bearing rock mélanges has been thoroughly documented. Here, we present a field-based, multi-scale geological approach aimed at illustrating the occurrence of amphibole fibrous mineralisation in an ophiolitic suite from the Ligurian Alps (Italy) and discussing the implication on in situ determination of the asbestos hazard. The rock mélange is composed of plurimetre-sized blocks of different lithotypes (metagabbro, serpentinite, chloritoschist) juxtaposed by the meaning of tectonic structures. The geological-structural survey revealed that the fibrous mineralisation is localised in specific structural sites of the rock volume, including veins and schistosity. Both micro-chemical and crystal structure analyses on selected fibrous samples revealed that actinolite fibres grow in veins within the metagabbro and in chloritoschists, while fibrous tremolite occurs in serpentinite schistosity. The morphological features of these amphibole fibres have been analysed in TEM images and used for classifying them as “asbestiform” or “non-asbestiform”. The results show that the asbestos hazard determination is not unequivocally identified when different procedures for asbestos fibre identification and classification are applied. This may have impact on normatives and regulations in defining environmental hazards due to asbestos occurrence.

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Title: Asbestos fibre identification vs. evaluation of asbestos hazard in ophiolitic rock mélanges, a case study from the Ligurian Alps (Italy)
Authors: Gianluca Vignaroli
Paolo Ballirano
Girolamo Belardi
Federico Rossetti
Publication date: 01-11-2014
Publisher: Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Published in: Environmental Earth Sciences / Issue 9/2014
Print ISSN: 1866-6280
Electronic ISSN: 1866-6299
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-014-3303-9

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