Multi-Analytical Approach for Identifying Asbestos Minerals In Situ

Abstract

An innovative and, as yet, untested approach is to analyze serpentinite and metabasite rocks containing asbestos using a portable multi-analytical device, which combines portable digital microscopy (p-DM), portable X-ray Fluorescence (p-XRF) and portable micro-Raman Spectroscopy (p-µR). The analyses were carried out in two inactive quarries of serpentinitic and metabasitic rocks from the Gimigliano-Mount Reventino Unit (Southern Italy) already characterized in previous studies, with the aim of testing the efficiency of these portable tools. In this study, a portable X-ray fluorescence analyzer was used to obtain the in situ rapid chemical discrimination of serpentinite and metabasite rocks. The characterization of outcropping rocks using portable devices enabled us to detect the presence of chrysotile and asbestos tremolite. The results obtained were consistent with the findings from previous research studies and therefore combining p-DM, p-XRF and p-µR could be a useful approach for discriminating asbestos contained in outcropping rocks, especially when sampling is prohibited or for field-based sampling.