1978: Asbestos Mining in the Vermont Belvidere Mountain Area

We hear about asbestos imported to the United States, primarily from Canada and South Africa, but with some coming from places like Australia. What we don’t often discuss is commercial asbestos mining companies selling asbestos from United States based mines. So, today we will discuss the 1978 book titled Petrology, Structure, and Genesis of the Asbestos-Bearing Ultramafic Rocks of the Belvidere Mountain Area in Vermont, Geological Survey Professional Paper 1016, by the US Department of the Interior.

This book includes a “nuts and bolts” extensive discussion on the geology and scientific issues concerning the asbestos located in that geographic area. Just look at its listing of Contents:

This book is made only for the smart people to understand: certainly not me, but great for experts in these scientific studies. As stated concerning serpentine mineralogy on page 19:

“Lizardite and six-layer orthoserpentine are elongated parallel to a; antigorite is elongated parallel to b. Orthchrysotile and clinochrysotile have a parallel to the fiber axis; parachrysotile has b parallel to the fiber axis.”

I have been reading this book a few pages at a time in order to digest this information to see if it makes a difference in what I do or how I do it. In summary, anything that advances my understanding of either asbestos or non-asbestos asbestiform minerals is a plus for my work. Education on these types of issues is critical if a person is to really and truly understand these minerals.

Let me know what you think either by leaving a comment or sending me an email to TheAsbestosBlog@gmail.com. Thanks. Marty