The environmental impact of natural occurrences of asbestos (NOA) and asbestos-like minerals is a growing concern for environmental protection agencies. The lack of shared sampling and analytical procedures hinders effectively addressing this issue. To investigate the hazard posed by NOA, a multidisciplinary approach that encompasses geology, mineralogy, chemistry, and toxicology is proposed and demonstrated here, on a natural occurrence of antigorite from a site in Varenna Valley, Italy. Antigorite is, together with chrysotile asbestos, one of the serpentine polymorphs and its toxicological profile is still under debate. We described field and petrographic analyses required to sample a vein and to evaluate the NOA-hazard. A combination of standardized mechanical stress and automated morphometrical analyses on milled samples allowed to quantify the asbestos-like morphology. The low congruent solubility in acidic simulated body fluid, together with the toxicity-relevant surface reactivity due to iron speciation, signalled a bio-activity similar or even greater to that of chrysotile. Structural information on the genetic mechanism of antigorite asbestos-like fibres in nature were provided. Overall, the NOA site was reported to contain veins of asbestos-like antigorite and should be regarded as source of potentially toxic fibres during hazard assessment procedure.

天然存在的石棉 (NOA) 和石棉类矿物对环境的影响越来越受到环境保护机构的关注。缺乏共享采样和分析程序阻碍了这一问题的有效解决。为了调查 NOA 造成的危害，本文提出并演示了一种涵盖地质学、矿物学、化学和毒理学的多学科方法，该方法针对意大利瓦伦纳山谷一处天然存在的叶蛇纹石。叶蛇纹石与温石棉一样，都是蛇纹石多晶型物之一，其毒理学特征仍在争论中。我们描述了静脉采样和评估 NOA 危害所需的现场和岩相分析。对研磨样品进行标准化机械应力和自动形态测量分析相结合，可以量化类石棉的形态。在酸性模拟体液中的低全等溶解度，以及由于铁形态形成而导致的与毒性相关的表面反应性，表明其生物活性与温石棉相似甚至更高。提供了自然界中叶蛇纹石石棉纤维遗传机制的结构信息。总体而言，据报道，NOA 地点含有石棉样叶蛇纹石矿脉，在危险评估过程中应将其视为潜在有毒纤维的来源。表明其生物活性与温石棉相似甚至更高。提供了自然界中叶蛇纹石石棉纤维遗传机制的结构信息。总体而言，据报道，NOA 地点含有石棉样叶蛇纹石矿脉，在危险评估过程中应将其视为潜在有毒纤维的来源。表明其生物活性与温石棉相似甚至更高。提供了自然界中叶蛇纹石石棉纤维遗传机制的结构信息。总体而言，据报道，NOA 地点含有石棉样叶蛇纹石矿脉，在危险评估过程中应将其视为潜在有毒纤维的来源。