Li behaviour and distribution in the mantle were investigated by ion microprobe in situ measurements on co-existing olivine (ol), orthopyroxene (opx), clinopyroxene (cpx) and amphibole (amp) in xenoliths from the French Massif Central. The fertile spinel lherzolites of this study record increasing degrees of mantle metasomatism, from unmetasomatised anhydrous samples through cryptically metasom...

Introduction: Kaersutite is a Ti-rich amphibole defined as having between 0.50 and 0.80 Ti atoms per formula unit [1, 2]. It is commonly found in terrestrial mantle-derived peridotites, in alkalic rocks with obvious high-pressure histories [3, 4], and in some SNC meteorites for which the exact petrogenetic histories are unknown [5, 6]. Because kaersutite is found in rocks with high-pressure his...

A new mineral species, lavinskyite, ideally K(LiCu)Cu6(Si4O11)2(OH)4 (IMA 2012-028), has been found in the Wessels mine, Kalahari Manganese Fields, Northern Cape Province, South Africa. Associated minerals include wesselsite, pectolite, richterite, sugilite, and scottyite. Lavinskyite crystals are tabular [parallel to (010)]. The mineral is light blue, transparent with very pale blue streak and...

More than 200 specimens from different occurrences of the Rogaland igneous complex and surrounding granulite facies metamorphic rocks (S. W. Norway) have been analysed by a direct non-destructive proton induced gamma-ray emission (PIGE) technique. The fluorine contents vary from < 25 ppm to 3500 ppm. There is a good correlation between the concentration of fluorine and that of phosphorus for ig...

The in vitro effects due to phagocytosis of asbestos by mouse peritoneal macrophages in various stages of activation have been compared. The amphiboles proved relatively inert; chrysotile, however, expressed a greater degree of cytotoxicity toward those populations of macrophages induced in vivo with asbestos, than toward any of the other populations of cells. These results are compared with da...

Asbestos is a commercial term for a group of fibrous minerals often associated with the development of pulmonary interstitial fibrosis (asbestosis), lung cancer, and malignant mesothelioma in occupationally exposed individuals. The pathogenicity of different forms of asbestos varies--long, thin amphibole fibers are most pathogenic, particularly in the induction of mesothelioma. Available data d...