Rosalda Punturo, Claudia Ricchiuti, Gaia Militello, Andrea Bloise, Laura Gaggero, Gabriele Lanzafame

Over the last decades, many studies have been carried out on rocks containing Naturally Occurrences of Asbestos (NOA) with the aim of determining the potential health risks to human health. The recognition of NOA fibres in geo-matrices, in most cases requires the combined use of various analytical techniques (e.g., OM, SEM/EDS, TEM/EDS, XRPD) and therefore a specific preparation of the samples. However, the preparation procedure may disturb the specimens under study thus compromising the final results. X-ray microtomography (SR X-ray μCT), is a non-destructive technique that allows the observation of the fibres arrangement in three-dimensional space, thus avoiding any morphological variation of the sample as a result of comminution.

Keywords: X-ray microtomography; natural occurrences of asbestos; serpentinite; marbles; metabasite

Proscience vol. 7

Pp 64-69

DOI: 10.14644/ghc2020.010