Environmental forensics plays a critical role in identifying and assessing potential hazards in natural and built environments. This discipline involves the detailed analysis of materials such as rock, sand, soil, and building materials to detect the presence of harmful substances, including free silica, asbestos, and other contaminants. Through techniques like geochemical fingerprinting, our experts can trace and match the composition of solid materials, aiding in the resolution of on-site issues, supporting recovery efforts following environmental incidents, and providing scientifically grounded evidence for legal proceedings.
These methods have applications which extend beyond characterisation and quality control of quarry and construction products, into areas such as health and safety, environmental management and forensics. Examples include the following.
Respirable Silica Content
The growing awareness of silicosis risk during manufacture and in service, maximum silica content is now a widespread requirement for dimension stone and some other applications such as rail ballast. Our optical petrographic and XRD tests can be used to quantify the free silica minerals present in a sample, and the specialised “Respirable Crystalline Silica/Free Silica Content” tests listed under “Petrographic Analysis” are discounted versions of those methods for when detailed data on additional minerals or rock textures is not required. Asbestos Testing
Our petrographic reports flag whether any asbestiform material is observed in the thin section. The next step is to confirm (or not) the asbestiform habit and mineral identity of the phase using high-resolution images and chemical analyses from scanning electron microscopy. If asbestos is confirmed, we can refer clients to other laboratories for the more complex process of quantifying the asbestos down to very low concentrations (~0.01%).
Environmental Contamination
Geochempet is able to use petrographic and geochemical analysis of rock, soil and sand and soil samples to identify contaminants such as coal or mine waste.
Fingerprinting/Matching Geochempet uses Concrete Petrography and Geochemical Analysis to compare whether two different samples are from the same or different mixes. This has been used to identify and locate substandard material, and to identify the source of problems such as drain blockages.
Fire Damage
Geochempet uses Concrete Petrography to estimate the maximum temperature reached at different depths within the sample, which can indicate strength reduction in not only the concrete itself but also associated steel reinforcing bars, and thus affect repair vs demolish decisions.