The Pleše mineral deposit is placed southeast of Ljubljana, close to the village of Škofljica. The mineral deposit area lies is in the Paleozoic clastic rocks and Mesozoic rocks, and there appear ore bodies with the biggest percentage of baryte. We tried to determine the composition of stream sediment in the immediate vicinity of a former mineral processing plant.
The results of the X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (XRF) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) reflect the geological composition of the ground – clastic and carbonate sedimentary rocks. The content changes of SiO2, Al2O3, Fe2O3 and K2O follow a similar trend, and the contents of CaO in MgO a different one. In most of the samples, the contents of SiO2, Al2O3, K2O, Fe2O3, TiO2 and MnO are smaller in the samples of the 2-0,063 mm fraction than in the same samples of the fine fraction (<0,063 mm). The contents of MgO and CaO are in most samples of the fraction 2-0,063 mm bigger than in the samples of the fine fractions. Fractions of the samples between 2 and 0,063 mm in general also contains a smaller amount of trace elements than the adequate fine-grained fraction. An exception is the sample P05-2, in which we find higher or the highest content of most elements (except for zinc, rubidium and zirconium), while the sample P07-2 contains more sulphur, and the sample P03-2 contains more zinc.
Among the potentially toxic elements, there is the highest content of barium, which is not exceeding the intervention value according to the so-called Dutch list in only one sample. In some samples, the contents of lead, zinc and nickel also exceed the intervention values. The XRD method determined quartz, dolomite, calcite, muscovite as well as baryte and vermiculite in the samples. The presence of baryte was also confirmed by the XRF results – with a very big amount of barium (0,06 %–7,24 %).
The scanning electron microscopy coupled with the energy-dispersive spectrometer (SEM/EDS) confirmed the presence of baryte as a prevailing mineral in the heavy fraction. In all the samples, we also determined galena, cerussite, TiO2 (rutile), zircon, manganese and iron oxides/hydroxides, while we determined cinnabar in only one sample (P03).
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