We have attempted to constrain the depth(s) at which the main differentiation processes in arc lavas occur, using two main approaches; REE characteristics. The REE patterns of volcanic rock suites produced by crystal-liquid differentiation processes are sensitive to garnet or amphibole fractionation at deep or intermediate levels, respectively. Not surprisingly La/Yb increases with differentiat...

Many of the late Paleozoic granitoid plutons of the southern Appalachians are composite bodies with coarsegrained amphibole + biotite and biotite varietal facies (Speer et al., 1980). From field relations, these facies appear closely related, and multiple intrusion or differentiation comes to mind as an explanation for the relationship. In the Liberty Hill pluton, the coarse-grained central amp...

Libby, Montana is the site of a large vermiculite deposit that was mined between 1920 and 1990 to extract vermiculite for commercial applications such as insulation, gardening products, and construction materials. The Libby vermiculite deposit also contains amphibole minerals including tremolite, actinolite, richterite, and winchite. Historically, Libby mine workers experienced high exposures t...

Research was conducted in order to assess potential exposure to asbestos while harvesting firewood from amphibole-contaminated trees near Libby, MT, USA. Three firewood-harvesting simulations took place in the summer and fall of 2006 in the Kootenai Forest inside the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) restricted zone surrounding the former W.R. Grace vermiculite mine. Another simulation w...

BACKGROUND Malignant mesothelioma reportedly shows different epidemiology and pathology in females, and a proportion are believed to arise spontaneously. METHODS One hundred and seventy seven cases of malignant mesothelioma in females were reviewed, examined by histochemistry and immunohistochemistry, assessed for asbestosis and lung fibre burden by transmission electron microscopy with energ...

New occurrences of xenolithic alkaline rocks from three East African volcanoes are described. Micro-ijolites and alkali pyroxenites occur in the carbonate-rich tufts and lavas of Mount Elgon; kaersutite-rich pyroxenites and a suite of fenitized basement rocks in the caldera flows of Mount Meru, and apparently unique melanocratic hortonolite nepheline syenites in the central foyaite plug of Moun...

Fluorescence microscopy-based affinity assay could enable highly sensitive and selective detection of airborne asbestos, an inorganic environmental pollutant that can cause mesothelioma and lung cancer. We have selected an Escherichia coli histone-like nucleoid structuring protein, H-NS, as a promising candidate for an amphibole asbestos bioprobe. H-NS has high affinity to amphibole asbestos, b...

The Mashhad ultramafic complex with a Permo-Triassic stratigraphic age is exposed at the NE of Binaloud Mountain and the SW to NW of Mashhad city. This area is mainly composed of mafic and ultramafic rocks, metamorphosed carbonate and pelitic rocks and granitoids in a NW- SE trend. Serpentinized amphibole-peridotites are the main types of ultramafic rocks in this area. Minerals in these rocks i...

In Finland, unlike other countries, anthophyllite asbestos has been widely used due to its domestic production in 1918-1975. In this particular context, the aim of the present study was to analyse the relationship between asbestos bodies (ABs) in bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid and the concentration of ABs and the different amphibole asbestos fibres in lung tissue. Sixty five BAL lung tissue...

Samples of a garnet granulitc from the mafic border units of the Lake Chatuge, Georgia alpine peridotite body were found to contain lamellar intergrowths of a pargastic amphibole in augite having the typical appearance of an exsolution feature. Single crystal X-ray diffraction, optical, electron microprobe and conventional and analytical electron microscopic studies have provided data limiting ...