Abstract
Naturally occurring asbestos (NOA) is a generic term used to refer to both regulated and un-regulated fibrous minerals when encountered in natural geological deposits. These minerals represent a cause of health hazard, since they have been assessed as potential environmental pollutants that may occur both in rocks and derived soils. In the present work, we focused on the village of San Severino Lucano, located in the Basilicata region (southern Apennines); due to its geographic isolation from other main sources of asbestos, it represents an excellent example of hazardous and not occupational exposure of population. From the village and its surroundings, we collected eight serpentinite-derived soil samples and carried out Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC), Derivative Thermogravimetric (DTG) and Transmission Electron Microscopy with Energy Dispersive Spectrometry (TEM-EDS), in order to perform a detailed characterization of serpentine varieties and other fibrous minerals. Investigation pointed out that chrysotile and asbestos tremolite occur in all of the samples. As for the fibrous but non-asbestos classified minerals, polygonal serpentine and fibrous antigorite were detected in a few samples. Results showed that the cultivation of soils developed upon serpentinite bedrocks were rich in harmful minerals, which if dispersed in the air can be a source of environmental pollution.
Highlights
As it is known, the term “asbestos” represents a group of six fibrous silicate minerals: chrysotile and amphibole group as: tremolite, actinolite, anthophyllite, amosite and crocidolite [1,2]
TEM has been mainly useful to determine the occurrence of serpentine varieties and their
TEM has been mainly useful to determine the occurrence of serpentine varieties and their morphological features in the soil samples; distinct fibrous serpentine varieties have been morphological features in the soil samples; distinct fibrous serpentine varieties have been found such as chrysotile, fibrous antigorite, polygonal serpentine and tremolite (Figure 3)
Summary
The term “asbestos” represents a group of six fibrous silicate minerals: chrysotile (serpentine group) and amphibole group as: tremolite, actinolite, anthophyllite, amosite and crocidolite [1,2]. Asbestos was plenty been exploited and marketed for the use in industrial and commercial products, mainly as building material [3]. It is worth noting that natural occurrences of asbestos represent a cause of health hazard, which is sometimes overlooked and difficult to properly monitor. Naturally occurring asbestos (NOA) is a generic term used to refer to both regulated and non-regulated fibrous minerals when encountered in natural geological deposits [5]. Now-a-days, only the six varieties above listed are regulated as potential environmental pollutants by law
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