Natural occurrence of asbestos in serpentinite quarries from Southern Spain.

The nevado-filábride complex (NFC) (southern Spain) is well known for its widespread mining and quarrying activities. Serpentinite and metabasite rocks are extracted, processed and traded as building and ornamental stones. Due to the possible presence of natural occurrence of asbestos (NOA) in these rocks, the aim of this paper is to conduct an in-depth characterisation of fibrous minerals.

X-ray synchrotron microtomography: a new technique for characterizing chrysotile asbestos.

Over the last decades, many studies have been conducted on rocks containing Naturally Occurring Asbestos (NOA) to determine the potential health risks to exposed neighboring populations. It is difficult to accurately characterize the asbestos fibres contained within the rocks as conventional techniques are not effective and have drawbacks associated with the disturbance of the sample under study. X-ray synchrotron microtomography (SR-μCT) supplemented with polarized light microscope (PLM), scanning electron microscopy analysis combined with energy dispersive spectrometry (SEM/EDS), electron probe micro-analysis (EPMA) were used for identifying asbestos fibres in a mineral matrix.

Rare earth elements distribution in grapevine varieties grown on volcanic soils: an example from Mount Etna (Sicily, Italy).

A geochemical and statistical approach has allowed identifying in rare earth elements (REEs) absorption a good fingerprinting mark for determining the territoriality and the provenance of Vitis vinifera L. in the district of Mount Etna (southern Italy). Our aim is to define the REEs distribution in different parts of the plants which grow in the same volcanic soil and under the same climate conditions, and therefore to assess whether REEs distribution may reflect the composition of the provenance soil or if plants can selectively absorb REEs in order to recognize the fingerprint in the Etna Volcano soils as well as the REEs pattern characteristic of each cultivar of V.

Source and nature of inhaled atmospheric dust from trace element analyses of human bronchial fluids.

Rapid volcanic eruptions quickly ejecting large amounts of dust provoke the accumulation of heavy metals in people living in surrounding areas. Analyses of bronchoalveolar lavage samples (BAL) collected from people exposed to the paroxysmal 2001 Etna eruption revealed a strong enrichment of many toxic heavy metals. Comparing the BAL to the dust composition of southeastern Sicily, we found that only V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, and U enrichment could be related to the volcanic event, whereas Ni, Cu, Cd, and Pb contents come from the dissolution of particles of anthropogenic origin.

Yttrium and lanthanides in human lung fluids, probing the exposure to atmospheric fallout.

Inhalation of airborne particles can produce crystallization of phosphatic microcrysts in intraaveolar areas of lungs, sometimes degenerating into pulmonary fibrosis. Results of this study indicate that these pathologies are induced by interactions between lung fluids and inhaled atmospheric dust in people exposed to volcanic dust ejected from Mount Etna in 2001. Here, the lung solid-liquid interaction is evaluated by the distribution of yttrium and lanthanides (YLn) in fluid bronchoalveolar lavages on selected individuals according the classical geochemical approaches.