[ RadSafe ] Red Sand

[Dan McCarn]

Hi Jerry:

Stauralite is not radioactive... see
http://webmineral.com/data/Staurolite.shtml


Dan ii

Dan W McCarn, Geologist
108 Sherwood Blvd
Los Alamos, NM 87544-3425
+1-505-672-2014 (Home – New Mexico)
+1-505-670-8123 (Mobile - New Mexico)
HotGreenChile at gmail.com (Private email) HotGreenChile at gmail dot com


On Sun, Mar 24, 2013 at 1:13 PM, Falo, Gerald A CIV USARMY MEDCOM PHC (US) <
gerald.a.falo.civ at mail.mil> wrote:

> Mike and Dan,
>
> Could it be staurolite: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Staurolite?
>
> DuPont makes a "Coarse Staurolite Sand":
> http://www2.dupont.com/Titanium_Technologies/en_US/products/staurolite/index.htmlfor sand blasting.
>
> Jerry
>
> ________________________________
>
> The statements and opinions expressed herein are my responsibility; no one
> else (certainly not my employer) is responsible, but I still reserve the
> right to make mistakes.
>
> Gerald A. Falo, Ph.D., CHP
> Army Institute of Public Health - Health Physics Program
> jerry.falo at us.army.mil
> 410-436-4852
> DSN: 584-4852
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu [mailto:
> radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu] On Behalf Of Cowie, Michael I
> Sent: Sunday, March 24, 2013 2:14 AM
> To: The International Radiation Protection (Health Physics) Mailing List
> Subject: Re: [ RadSafe ] Red Sand
>
> Thanks Dan, but perhaps I was being a bit obtuse with information on my
> earlier email. The material has been found spread over an area and appears
> to have been used in an uncontrolled way in an abrasive blasting method. I
> have discovered that this area was used to overhaul and refurbish a large
> section of pipework, and included blasting/hydro testing. I have some
> pictures of the sand (unfortunately cannot append on the list), and also
> XRF/XRD analysis which indicates:
>
> Si 20.9%
> Fe 14.9%
> Al 4.7%
> Ca 3.7%
> Mg 1.7%
> Na 0.8%
> Ti 0.7%
> Mn 0.5%
> K 0.4%
> S 0.3%
> Cl 0.1%
> Zr 0.09%
>
> Almandine-(Mg0.6Fe2.4)Al2(SiO4)3        47 Wt%
> Quartz-SiO2                             44 Wt%
> Calcite-CaCO3                           6 Wt%
> Microcline-KAlSi3O8                     3 Wt%
>
>
> Looking at the U figure in the data provided it gives 14.8 +/- 3.7 ug/g.
> The Th iis 181.7 +/- 2.9 ug/g.
>
> The material is definitely alien to the place where it has ended up, but
> not yet been able to track down where it came from.
>
> I also have a nice image of the spread of the contamination over the area
> using the RadSurvey gamma mapping equipment.
>
> Mike
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu [mailto:
> radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu] On Behalf Of Dan McCarn
> Sent: Sunday, March 24, 2013 8:50 AM
> To: The International Radiation Protection (Health Physics) Mailing List
> Subject: Re: [ RadSafe ] Red Sand
>
> Dear Michael:
>
> I think it is highly unlikely to be garnet.
>
> The described material is far more likely to be a red zircon sand, hard
> and abrasive, and can be concentrated in beach and stream placers in &
> around igneous and metamorphic terrains because it does not tend to
> weather. From memory, it can contain up to about 1% uranium. Zircon is a
> zirconium silicate for which the zircon can be replaced with a significant
> amount of rare-earth elements including thorium as well as uranium.
>
> For a zircon containing 0.25% U-nat, that would amount to an activity of
> about 30 Bq/g for each member of the decay chain.  I have seen and mapped
> Cretaceous beach placers in the Trinidad sandstone of Colorado / New Mexico
> for many kilometers.  Undoubtedly, the beach sand was derived from the
> ancestral Rockies, full of granite with abundant zircon.
>  Long-shore drift concentrated the beach placers giving them a
> significantly higher gamma "kick" with borehole-logging tools than would be
> expected, and were occasionally mistaken for "roll-front" type sandstone
> uranium deposits, but are of no economic interest (for uranium) due to the
> chemically inert nature of zircon. Neither uranium nor thorium would leach
> from zircon sands.
>
> See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zircon
>
> "Zircon occurs in many colors, including red, pink, brown, yellow, hazel,
> or black. It can also be colorless. The color of zircons can sometimes be
> changed by heat treatment. Depending on the amount of heat applied,
> colorless, blue, or golden-yellow zircons can be made. In geological
> settings, the development of pink, red, and purple zircon occurs after
> hundreds of millions of years, if the crystal has sufficient trace elements
> to produce color centers. Color in this red or pink series is annealed in
> geological conditions above the temperature about 350 °C."
>
> "Zircon is a common accessory to trace mineral constituent of most granite<
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Granite>
>  and felsic <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felsic> igneous rocks. Due to
> its hardness, durability and chemical inertness, zircon persists in
> sedimentary deposits and is a common constituent of most sands. Zircon is
> rare within mafic rocks <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mafic_rock> and
> very rare within ultramafic <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultramafic>
> rocks aside from a group of ultrapotassic intrusive rocks<
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultrapotassic_igneous_rocks> such as
> kimberlites <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kimberlite>, carbonatites, and
> lamprophyre, where zircon can occasionally be found as a trace mineral
> owing to the unusual magma genesis of these rocks."
>
> "Zircon forms economic concentrations within heavy mineral sands ore
> deposits <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heavy_mineral_sands_ore_deposits>,
> within certain pegmatites <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pegmatite>, and
> within some rare alkaline volcanic rocks, for example the Toongi Trachyte,
> Dubbo, New South Wales Australia[9]<
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zircon#cite_note-9> in association with the
> zirconium-hafnium minerals eudialyte<
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eudialyte> and armstrongite."
>
> Dan ii
>
> Dan W McCarn, Geologist
> 108 Sherwood Blvd
> Los Alamos, NM 87544-3425
> +1-505-672-2014 (Home – New Mexico)
> +1-505-670-8123 (Mobile - New Mexico)
> HotGreenChile at gmail.com (Private email) HotGreenChile at gmail dot com
>
>
> On Sat, Mar 23, 2013 at 10:51 PM, Cowie, Michael I <
> michael.cowie at aramco.com
> > wrote:
>
> > Abrasive Sand/grit
> >
> > Also recently encountered some red coloured fine sand, it has been
> > suggested the material is "Garnet". Activity concentration is in the
> > order of 30Bq/g (Total activity), and have measured gamma dose rates
> > of in excess of 3microSiverts/hr from the material. A few years ago we
> > ceased using abrasive sands/silica for blasting/preparation ops due to
> > health related issues (silicosis) and the replacement material is a
> > type of black grit (a trade name I have seen is EuroGrit, but there
> > are others). This also has slightly enhanced activity levels but only
> > around 1Bq/g. So it came as a bit of a shock to find this material,
> > particularly with such enhanced activity levels and associated gamma
> dose-rate.
> >
> > Again a couple of questions:
> >
> > Are the activity concentrations in the "granet" or Rad Sand typical?
> > Are there standards to which suppliers should adhere?
> >
> > I am pretty certain that this material if shipped now would trigger
> > alarms at ports of entry if exported.
> >
> > Mike
> >
> >
> >
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