Due to dangerous effects on health the industrial use of asbestos minerals is banned in Italy since 1992. As consequence, the risk of asbestos fibers exposure is no linked to industrial processes, but to the modifications of lithotypes containing them, whether as a result of natural phenomena (landslides, erosion, weathering) that as human activities (mining, earthworks, excavations, tunnels). To assess the real “natural” asbestos- related risk, the Tuscany Region administration has funded a project for the mapping and the characterization of the asbestos- bearing ophiolitic rocks cropping out in Tuscany. This project, (CaMAm: Caratterizzazione e Mappature Amianto), has been developed by a team among the Dip. Scienze della Terra (Univ. Pisa), Alitec s.n.c. and PivotConsulting s.p.a. Using the recent regional geological cartography, 66 sites of ophiolitic rocks containing asbestos minerals have been investigated using a multidisciplinary approach. Each outcrop has been initially investigated at mesoscopic scale. That has included the description of lithotypes and structures (i.e. faults, shear zones), the geometric characterization of asbestos-bearing veins (e.g. orientation, thickness, frequency, lateral extension....) and the textural and mineralogical characterization of asbestos minerals within the veins (i.e. geometry of mineral, fibers orientation respect to the vein boundaries, color...). In order to make the qualitative and quantitative assessment of contents of such asbestos minerals, representative samples of lithotypes and asbestos minerals have been collected. Overall, 410 samples have been collected. Petrographical analyses have been performed on 140 samples, XRpD analyses have been carried out on 143 samples, whereas 49 samples have been used to determine the Release Index (the only Italian legislative parameter used to assess the asbestos risk). Finally, in order to find alternative and innovative asbestos-risk assessment, new methodologies (i.e. image analyses on thin sections and the study of atmospheric particulate in area nearby inactive ophiolite quarries) have been tested.All these information have been used to elaborate an exhaustive and easily questioned GIS database.
Characterization of asbestos content from natural sites in Tuscany: the CaMAm Project.
FRASSI, CHIARA;GEMELLI, MAURIZIO;MARRONI, MICHELE;MENEGHINI, FRANCESCA;PANDOLFI, LUCA;ROCCHI, SERGIO;
2013-01-01
Abstract
Due to dangerous effects on health the industrial use of asbestos minerals is banned in Italy since 1992. As consequence, the risk of asbestos fibers exposure is no linked to industrial processes, but to the modifications of lithotypes containing them, whether as a result of natural phenomena (landslides, erosion, weathering) that as human activities (mining, earthworks, excavations, tunnels). To assess the real “natural” asbestos- related risk, the Tuscany Region administration has funded a project for the mapping and the characterization of the asbestos- bearing ophiolitic rocks cropping out in Tuscany. This project, (CaMAm: Caratterizzazione e Mappature Amianto), has been developed by a team among the Dip. Scienze della Terra (Univ. Pisa), Alitec s.n.c. and PivotConsulting s.p.a. Using the recent regional geological cartography, 66 sites of ophiolitic rocks containing asbestos minerals have been investigated using a multidisciplinary approach. Each outcrop has been initially investigated at mesoscopic scale. That has included the description of lithotypes and structures (i.e. faults, shear zones), the geometric characterization of asbestos-bearing veins (e.g. orientation, thickness, frequency, lateral extension....) and the textural and mineralogical characterization of asbestos minerals within the veins (i.e. geometry of mineral, fibers orientation respect to the vein boundaries, color...). In order to make the qualitative and quantitative assessment of contents of such asbestos minerals, representative samples of lithotypes and asbestos minerals have been collected. Overall, 410 samples have been collected. Petrographical analyses have been performed on 140 samples, XRpD analyses have been carried out on 143 samples, whereas 49 samples have been used to determine the Release Index (the only Italian legislative parameter used to assess the asbestos risk). Finally, in order to find alternative and innovative asbestos-risk assessment, new methodologies (i.e. image analyses on thin sections and the study of atmospheric particulate in area nearby inactive ophiolite quarries) have been tested.All these information have been used to elaborate an exhaustive and easily questioned GIS database.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
