Abstract
Petrographically marbles are crystalline carbonate rocks with main mineral phases Calcite (CaCO3), Calcitic marbles or dolomite (CaMg(CO3)2), dolomitic marbles. The commercial and archaeological interest for the characterization of provenance of marbles from specific marble quarries is great. Within this aim several studies have been carried out in the past, which referred to the petrographic characterization as well as to trace element analysis. In the present work a farther attempt is made for the discrimination of the origin of marbles, based on their mineralogical characterization and analysis of major and trace elements as well as isotopes analyses. In particular, 8 major elements (Si, Al, Fe, Mn, Mg, K, Ca, Na), 27 trace elements: (Li, Be, B, Sc, B, Cr, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Ga, Ge, Rb, Sr, Y, Zr, Nb, Sn Sb, Cs, Ba, Hf, Pb, Bi, Th, U), 14 REE (Rare Earth Elements): (La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Sm, Eu, Tb, Gd, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, Yb, Lu) and the ratio of isotopes: Pb, Sr und Rb (204/206Pb, 207/206Pb, 208/206Pb, 207/204Pb; (85/87Rb); (84/86Sr, 87/86Sr, 88/86Sr87/86Sr) have been measured. Eleven different Greek marbles have been analyzed from various marble regions. The study of the analytical results shows that the discrimination of marbles is possible based on the trace elements in combination with the isotope analysis. Binary and ternary chemographic diagrams like 207Pb/206 Pb-208Pb/206Pb, 87Rb/86Sr-206Pb/204Pb, Ti-B-Be, (Sn+Pb)-(V+Cr)-(Sc+Y) and the ratio 147Sm/146Nd contribute to, more or less, a clear group discrimination of the Greek marbles. This discrimination is significantly improved involving the mineralogical analysis combined with Image Analysis Techniques. By the ternary diagrams Pr-Nd-Sm, Tb-Gd-Dy and Tm-Yb-Lu a discrete and significant grouping of all examined Greek marbles is achieved, which could be probably used for the discrimination of the Greek marbles from other localities of the Mediterranean area.
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Perdikatsis, V., Kritsotakis, K., Markopoulos, T., Laskaridis, K. (2006). Petrography, Fabric and Properties. In: KOURKOULIS, S.K. (eds) Fracture and Failure of Natural Building Stones. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-5077-0_31
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