Pétrographie characterization of rocks from the Mirabello bay region, Crete, and its application to Minoan archaeology: the provenance of stone implements from Minoan sites

The Minoans of East Crete used a variety of igneous and metamorphic rocks as stone implements. These were probably procured in dry riverbeds and beaches located in a region along the Bay of Mirabello or from an onlap conglomerate, which geologically dominates that region and contains rock types of igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary origin. Several rock samples were collected for pétrographie investigation to examine and confirm the source for the igneous rocks. Detailed pétrographie description of natural samples provides the identification of the rocks employed by Minoans and confirms the source of their origin. Apparently the Minoans were able to evaluate the hardness of the stones procured according to the desirable usage and their expected fatigue, thus avoiding unnecessary timeconsuming treatment. The identification of the variable lithotypes used for these implements and the verification of their source regions reveal the time it took to procure the raw materials as well as the time period during which the rocks were employed.

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Rock Types Classification and Distribution on Anabanua Village, Barru Regency, South Sulawesi

Jurnal Geomine ◽

10.33536/jg.v8i1.530 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 8 (1) ◽

pp. 1-8

Author(s):

Muhammad Resky Ariansyah ◽

Muhammad Fawzy Ismullah Massinai ◽

Muhammad Altin Massinai

Keyword(s):

Sedimentary Rocks ◽

Research Area ◽

Igneous Rocks ◽

The Other ◽

Metamorphic Rocks ◽

Geological Process ◽

Rock Types ◽

South Sulawesi ◽

Geological Conditions ◽

Limestone Sand

Anabanua Village, Barru Regency is one of the areas in South Sulawesi that has quite unique geological conditions. This condition inseparably comes from the complicated geological process that took place during the formation of the island, Sulawesi. In Anabanua Village, there are many types of rocks such as sedimentary rocks, metamorphic rocks and igneous rocks. This paper aims to map and classify the types of rock by taking samples on different places in the research area. Then we observe the samples physical properties. The results showed, from taking 10 rock samples in different places, they have various characteristics. 8 of them were sedimentary rocks, they are Limestone Quartz, Limestone Sand, Shale, Sandstone, Coal, Limestone Bioturbation, Breccia, and Chert Stone. The other 2 samples were metamorphic rocks, they are Greenschist and Quartzite.

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ASSESMENT OF THE QUALITY OF METAMORPHIC AND IGNEOUS ROCKS FROM TERPNI (SERRES, NORTH GREECE) FOR THEIR USE AS RAW MATERIALS IN THE PRODUCTION OF STONEWOOL

Bulletin of the Geological Society of Greece ◽

10.12681/bgsg.11932 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 50 (4) ◽

pp. 1913

Author(s):

P. Lampropoulou ◽

D. Papoulis ◽

E. Metaxa ◽

B. Tsikouras ◽

K. Hatzipanagioutou ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Raw Materials ◽

Mineralogical Composition ◽

Igneous Rocks ◽

Raw Material ◽

Metamorphic Rocks ◽

Lower Content ◽

Wool Production ◽

Stone Wool ◽

Frequent Presence

Metamorphic and igneous rocks of Terpnis' Serres in N. Greece have been studied. Nowadays these metamorphic rocks are used as raw materials in stone wool production, by Fibran industry, whilst the studied plutonic samples with lower content of iron oxide are proposed as alternative raw material for the production of new lightly colored stone wool, according to the market demands. Selected epidote amphibolites and quartz diorite samples were analyzed by ICP ΟES, AAS, XRD, Petrographic microscopy, and SEM. The epidote-amphibolites show some evidence of weathering leading to sericiticsaussuritizated plagioclase crystals and secondary smectite and chlorite nanocrystals. Phyllosilicates affect positively the grinding procedure and melting of the raw materials under industrial conditions of stone wool production, due to its lower hardness and melting point compared to that of the primary hornblende. The chemical and major mineralogical composition, the heterogeneous characteristics of textures as well as the frequent presence of phyllosilicates, due to the weathering of the plutonic studied samples, are expected to contribute to the easier grinding and melting of rocks under industrial conditions as well as to the production of a new light colored and competitive stone wool product

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Variability of springtime transpacific pollution transport during 2000–2006: the INTEX-B mission in the context of previous years

Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics ◽

10.5194/acp-10-1345-2010 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 10 (3) ◽

pp. 1345-1359 ◽

Cited By ~ 16

Author(s):

G. G. Pfister ◽

L. K. Emmons ◽

D. P. Edwards ◽

A. Arellano ◽

T. Campos ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Transport Model ◽

Pollution Transport ◽

Chemistry Transport Model ◽

Pollution Levels ◽

Annual Variability ◽

Source Regions ◽

Time Period ◽

The Pacific ◽

The Us ◽

Transport Experiment

Abstract. We analyze the transport of pollution across the Pacific during the NASA INTEX-B (Intercontinental Chemical Transport Experiment Part B) campaign in spring 2006 and examine how this year compares to the time period for 2000 through 2006. In addition to aircraft measurements of carbon monoxide (CO) collected during INTEX-B, we include in this study multi-year satellite retrievals of CO from the Measurements of Pollution in the Troposphere (MOPITT) instrument and simulations from the chemistry transport model MOZART-4. Model tracers are used to examine the contributions of different source regions and source types to pollution levels over the Pacific. Additional modeling studies are performed to separate the impacts of inter-annual variability in meteorology and dynamics from changes in source strength. Interannual variability in the tropospheric CO burden over the Pacific and the US as estimated from the MOPITT data range up to 7% and a somewhat smaller estimate (5%) is derived from the model. When keeping the emissions in the model constant between years, the year-to-year changes are reduced (2%), but show that in addition to changes in emissions, variable meteorological conditions also impact transpacific pollution transport. We estimate that about 1/3 of the variability in the tropospheric CO loading over the contiguous US is explained by changes in emissions and about 2/3 by changes in meteorology and transport. Biomass burning sources are found to be a larger driver for inter-annual variability in the CO loading compared to fossil and biofuel sources or photochemical CO production even though their absolute contributions are smaller. Source contribution analysis shows that the aircraft sampling during INTEX-B was fairly representative of the larger scale region, but with a slight bias towards higher influence from Asian contributions.

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Thermal Characterization of Recycled Materials for Building Insulation

Energies ◽

10.3390/en14123564 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 14 (12) ◽

pp. 3564

Author(s):

Arnas Majumder ◽

Laura Canale ◽

Costantino Carlo Mastino ◽

Antonio Pacitto ◽

Andrea Frattolillo ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Environmental Impact ◽

Environmental Sustainability ◽

Building Materials ◽

Raw Materials ◽

Natural Fibers ◽

Thermal Characterization ◽

Recycled Materials ◽

Building Insulation ◽

Operational Phase

The building sector is known to have a significant environmental impact, considering that it is the largest contributor to global greenhouse gas emissions of around 36% and is also responsible for about 40% of global energy consumption. Of this, about 50% takes place during the building operational phase, while around 10–20% is consumed in materials manufacturing, transport and building construction, maintenance, and demolition. Increasing the necessity of reducing the environmental impact of buildings has led to enhancing not only the thermal performances of building materials, but also the environmental sustainability of their production chains and waste prevention. As a consequence, novel thermo-insulating building materials or products have been developed by using both locally produced natural and waste/recycled materials that are able to provide good thermal performances while also having a lower environmental impact. In this context, the aim of this work is to provide a detailed analysis for the thermal characterization of recycled materials for building insulation. To this end, the thermal behavior of different materials representing industrial residual or wastes collected or recycled using Sardinian zero-km locally available raw materials was investigated, namely: (1) plasters with recycled materials; (2) plasters with natural fibers; and (3) building insulation materials with natural fibers. Results indicate that the investigated materials were able to improve not only the energy performances but also the environmental comfort in both new and in existing buildings. In particular, plasters and mortars with recycled materials and with natural fibers showed, respectively, values of thermal conductivity (at 20 °C) lower than 0.475 and 0.272 W/(m⋅K), while that of building materials with natural fibers was always lower than 0.162 W/(m⋅K) with lower values for compounds with recycled materials (0.107 W/(m⋅K)). Further developments are underway to analyze the mechanical properties of these materials.

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Petrological and geochemical characterization of the arc-related Suru–Thasgam ophiolitic slice along the Indus Suture Zone, Ladakh Himalaya

Geological Magazine ◽

10.1017/s0016756821000042 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-20

Author(s):

I.M. Bhat ◽

T. Ahmad ◽

D.V. Subba Rao ◽

N.V. Chalapathi Rao

Keyword(s):

Suture Zone ◽

Secondary Mineral ◽

High Field Strength ◽

Geochemical Characterization ◽

Rock Types ◽

Ladakh Himalaya ◽

Magnesian Olivine ◽

Textural Relationship ◽

Ree Patterns

Abstract The Ladakh Himalayan ophiolites preserve remnants of the eastern part of the Neo-Tethyan Ocean, in the form of Dras, Suru Valley, Shergol, Spongtang and Nidar ophiolitic sequences. In Kohistan region of Pakistan, Muslim Bagh, Zhob and Bela ophiolites are considered to be equivalents of Ladakh ophiolites. In western Ladakh, the Suru–Thasgam ophiolitic slice is highly dismembered and consists of peridotites, pyroxenites and gabbros, emplaced as imbricate blocks thrust over the Mesozoic Dras arc complex along the Indus Suture Zone. The Thasgam peridotites are partially serpentinized with relict olivine, orthopyroxene and minor clinopyroxene, as well as serpentine and iron oxide as secondary mineral assemblage. The pyroxenites are dominated by clinopyroxene followed by orthopyroxene with subordinate olivine and spinel. Gabbros are composed of plagioclase and pyroxene (mostly replaced by amphiboles), describing an ophitic to sub-ophitic textural relationship. Geochemically, the studied rock types show sub-alkaline tholeiitic characteristics. The peridotites display nearly flat chondrite-normalized rare earth element (REE) patterns ((La/Yb)N = 0.6–1.5), while fractionated patterns were observed for pyroxenites and gabbros. Multi-element spidergrams for peridotites, pyroxenites and gabbros display subduction-related geochemical characteristics such as enriched large-ion lithophile element (LILE) and depleted high-field-strength element (HFSE) concentrations. In peridotites and pyroxenites, highly magnesian olivine (Fo88.5-89.3 and Fo87.8-89.9, respectively) and clinopyroxene (Mg no. of 93–98 and 90–97, respectively) indicate supra-subduction zone (SSZ) tectonic affinity. Our study suggests that the peridotites epitomize the refractory nature of their protoliths and were later evolved in a subduction environment. Pyroxenites and gabbros appear to be related to the base of the modern intra-oceanic island-arc tholeiitic sequence.

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Alkali-Hydrothermal Treatment of K-Rich Igneous Rocks for Their Direct Use as Potassic Fertilizers

Minerals ◽

10.3390/min11020140 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (2) ◽

pp. 140

Author(s):

Aaron Mbissik ◽

Abdellatif Elghali ◽

Muhammad Ouabid ◽

Otmane Raji ◽

Jean-Louis Bodinier ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Hydrothermal Treatment ◽

Inductively Coupled Plasma ◽

Structural Changes ◽

Raw Materials ◽

Hydrothermal Process ◽

Atomic Emission ◽

Igneous Rocks ◽

Gravimetric Analysis ◽

African Countries ◽

Naoh Solution

Due to the increasing demand for conventional sources of potassium (K) and their inaccessibility by African countries, K-rich igneous rocks are increasingly studied as potential alternative sources. In this study, six potassic igneous rocks (syenites and trachytes) from the Tamazeght, Jbel Boho, Ait Saoun, and El Glo’a regions (Morocco) were sampled and characterized. Then they were hydrothermally treated to enhance their K release for potential use as potassic fertilizers. The raw materials are mainly formed by microcline (up to 74%), orthoclase (20–68%), albite (36–57%), biotite-muscovite (15–23%), and titanite, calcite, hematite, and apatite as accessory minerals. These samples were crushed and milled to reach a particle size <150 µm and mixed with 4 N NaOH solution in an autoclave. The liquid/solid (L/S) ratio was about 44 mL/50 g. The powders were allowed to react with the solution at 170 °C for 7 h. For all tests, NaOH reacted completely with the powders and no liquid was observed after the treatment. X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA), infrared spectroscopy (IRTF), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM-EDS) were carried out on treated samples to characterize the mineralogical and structural changes due to the alkali-hydrothermal treatment. Indeed, the treated samples revealed the presence of sodic neoformed phases such as thermonatrite, sodalite, analcime, and cancrinite. The treated material was leached for a week using deionized water and the elements released were measured using inductively coupled plasma–atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES). The hydrothermal process showed a strong effect on structure breakdown as well as on the release of K and other nutrients such as P, Fe, Si, Mg, and Ca. Therefore, the alkali-hydrothermal treatment allowed the release of 50.5 wt% K. Moreover, the release of Mg, Ca, Fe, P, K, and Si were significantly increased. Mg, Ca, Fe, P, K, and Si release within raw materials was about (0.5–3.6), (3.5–31.4), (0.01–0.4), (0.01–0.3), (20–55), and (4.6–8) mg/kg, respectively, whereas treated samples showed a higher release of these elements. Quantitatively, Mg, Ca, Fe, P, K, and Si releases were about (10–11.8), (60–70), (7–20), (1.2–15), (218–1278), and (1119–2759) mg/kg, respectively. Consequently, the treated igneous rocks (syenite and trachyte) could be directly used as potassic fertilizers that would also be a source of other nutrients.

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A Methodology Based on FT-IR Data Combined with Random Forest Model to Generate Spectralprints for the Characterization of High-Quality Vinegars

Foods ◽

10.3390/foods10061411 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 10 (6) ◽

pp. 1411

Author(s):

José Luis P. Calle ◽

Marta Ferreiro-González ◽

Ana Ruiz-Rodríguez ◽

Gerardo F. Barbero ◽

José Á. Álvarez ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Random Forest ◽

Raw Materials ◽

Principal Component ◽

Hierarchical Cluster ◽

Raw Material ◽

Support Vector ◽

Protected Designation Of Origin ◽

Ft Ir

Sherry wine vinegar is a Spanish gourmet product under Protected Designation of Origin (PDO). Before a vinegar can be labeled as Sherry vinegar, the product must meet certain requirements as established by its PDO, which, in this case, means that it has been produced following the traditional solera and criadera ageing system. The quality of the vinegar is determined by many factors such as the raw material, the acetification process or the aging system. For this reason, mainly producers, but also consumers, would benefit from the employment of effective analytical tools that allow precisely determining the origin and quality of vinegar. In the present study, a total of 48 Sherry vinegar samples manufactured from three different starting wines (Palomino Fino, Moscatel, and Pedro Ximénez wine) were analyzed by Fourier-transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy. The spectroscopic data were combined with unsupervised exploratory techniques such as hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) and principal component analysis (PCA), as well as other nonparametric supervised techniques, namely, support vector machine (SVM) and random forest (RF), for the characterization of the samples. The HCA and PCA results present a clear grouping trend of the vinegar samples according to their raw materials. SVM in combination with leave-one-out cross-validation (LOOCV) successfully classified 100% of the samples, according to the type of wine used for their production. The RF method allowed selecting the most important variables to develop the characteristic fingerprint (“spectralprint”) of the vinegar samples according to their starting wine. Furthermore, the RF model reached 100% accuracy for both LOOCV and out-of-bag (OOB) sets.

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Mineralogical and Microstructure Analysis for Characterization and Provenance of Ceramic Artifacts from Late Helladic Kastrouli Settlement, Delphi (Central Greece)

Geosciences ◽

10.3390/geosciences11010036 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

pp. 36

Author(s):

Vayia Xanthopoulou ◽

Ioannis Iliopoulos ◽

Ioannis Liritzis

Keyword(s):

Raw Materials ◽

Analytical Techniques ◽

Sem Analysis ◽

Petrographic Analysis ◽

Ceramic Assemblage ◽

Thin Sections ◽

Central Greece ◽

High Calcium ◽

Local Geology

The present study deals with the characterization of a ceramic assemblage from the Late Mycenaean (Late Helladic III) settlement of Kastrouli, at Desfina near Delphi, Central Greece using various analytical techniques. Kastrouli is located in a strategic position supervising the Mesokampos plateau and the entire peninsula and is related to other nearby coeval settlements. In total 40 ceramic sherds and 8 clay raw materials were analyzed through mineralogical, petrographic and microstructural techniques. Experimental briquettes (DS) made from clayey raw materials collected in the vicinity of Kastrouli, were fired under temperatures (900 and 1050 °C) in oxidizing conditions for comparison with the ancient ceramics. The petrographic analysis performed on thin sections prepared from the sherds has permitted the identification of six main fabric groups and a couple of loners. The aplastic inclusions recognized in all fabric groups but one confirmed the local provenance since they are related to the local geology. Fresh fractures of representative sherds were further examined under a scanning electron microscope (SEM/EDS) helping us to classify them into calcareous (CaO > 6%) and non-calcareous (CaO < 6%) samples (low and high calcium was noted in earlier pXRF data). Here, the ceramic sherds with broad calcium separation are explored on a one-to-one comparison on the basis of detailed mineralogical microstructure. Moreover, their microstructure was studied, aiming to estimate their vitrification stage. The mineralogy of all studied samples was determined by means of X-ray powder diffraction (XRPD), permitting us to test the validity of the firing temperatures revealed by the SEM analysis. The results obtained through the various analytical techniques employed are jointly assessed in order to reveal potters’ technological choices.

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Characterization of Polysaccharidic Associations for Cosmetic Use: Rheology and Texture Analysis

Cosmetics ◽

10.3390/cosmetics8030062 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 8 (3) ◽

pp. 62

Author(s):

Giovanni Tafuro ◽

Alessia Costantini ◽

Giovanni Baratto ◽

Stefano Francescato ◽

Laura Busata ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Raw Materials ◽

Immersion Test ◽

High Viscosity ◽

Natural Polymers ◽

Public Attention ◽

First Choice ◽

Wide Range ◽

Textural Parameters ◽

Complementary Techniques

As public attention on sustainability is increasing, the use of polysaccharides as rheological modifiers in skin-care products is becoming the first choice. Polysaccharide associations can be used to increase the spreading properties of products and to optimize their sensorial profile. Since the choice of natural raw materials for cosmetics is wide, instrumental methodologies are useful for formulators to easily characterize the materials and to create mixtures with specific applicative properties. In this work, we performed rheological and texture analyses on samples formulated with binary and ternary associations of polysaccharides to investigate their structural and mechanical features as a function of the concentration ratios. The rheological measurements were conducted under continuous and oscillatory flow conditions using a rotational rheometer. An immersion/de-immersion test conducted with a texture analyzer allowed us to measure some textural parameters. Sclerotium gum and iota-carrageenan imparted high viscosity, elasticity, and firmness in the system; carob gum and pectin influenced the viscoelastic properties and determined high adhesiveness and cohesiveness. The results indicated that these natural polymers combined in appropriate ratios can provide a wide range of different textures and that the use of these two complementary techniques represents a valid pre-screening tool for the formulation of green products.

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The Influence of Cement Substitution by Biomass Fly Ash on the Polymer–Cement Composites Properties

Materials ◽

10.3390/ma14113079 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 14 (11) ◽

pp. 3079

Author(s):

Beata Jaworska ◽

Dominika Stańczak ◽

Joanna Tarańska ◽

Jerzy Jaworski

Keyword(s):

Fly Ash ◽

Building Materials ◽

Raw Materials ◽

Combustion Process ◽

Biomass Combustion ◽

Cement Composites ◽

Cement Mortars ◽

Mineral Additive ◽

Biomass Fly Ash

The generation of energy for the needs of the population is currently a problem. In consideration of that, the biomass combustion process has started to be implemented as a new source of energy. The dynamic increase in the use of biomass for energy generation also resulted in the formation of waste in the form of fly ash. This paper presents an efficient way to manage this troublesome material in the polymer–cement composites (PCC), which have investigated to a lesser extent. The research outlined in this article consists of the characterization of biomass fly ash (BFA) as well as PCC containing this waste. The characteristics of PCC with BFA after 3, 7, 14, and 28 days of curing were analyzed. Our main findings are that biomass fly ash is suitable as a mineral additive in polymer–cement composites. The most interesting result is that the addition of biomass fly ash did not affect the rheological properties of the polymer–cement mortars, but it especially influenced its compressive strength. Most importantly, our findings can help prevent this byproduct from being placed in landfills, prevent the mining of new raw materials, and promote the manufacture of durable building materials.

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