Mineral Fibers

The International Environmental Research Foundation is involved in the characterization of mineral particulates by analytical transmission electron microscopy, powder x-ray diffraction and polarized light microscopy. The mineral particulates can occur as bulk powders collected for example chrysotile asbestos at a mine in Asbest City, Urals Region of the Russian Federation or tremolite asbestos from a whitewash used in Metsovo, Greece. Mesothelioma - a rare cancer associated with asbestos exposure - has occurred among the individuals living in homes containing such whitewash. Mineral particulates may also be recovered from the lung parenchyma of an individual exposed to a pathogenic mineral. Crocidolite asbestos fibers were recovered from the lung of a South African miner with a pleural mesothelioma. Airborne particulates can be characterized for type and concentration such as the gypsum fiber found to be airborne near Ground Zero after the collapse of the Twin Towers.

Mineralogy Tutorial (Download the PDF-File)
Amphibole Fact Sheet (Download the PDF-File)
Talc Fact Sheet (Download the PDF-File)