Preliminary data on the yellow ochers at the mine of Via Tirapelle in Verona (Italy)

The mine of Via Tirapelle in Verona is a paleokarst cave filled with insoluble material coming from the dissolution of the carbonatic formation; the size distribution generally belongs to the class of lime and clay. No more information is available on these natural earths. The analysis carried out in the past on these materials refer that the pigment was limonite. X-ray diffraction powder (XRD) analysis allows to refer that the yellow ocher is only the orthorhombic goethite. Goethite is locally associated with calcite, quartz and dolomite. Ankerite was found as a constituent of two samples deriving from the replacement of Fe inside the dolomite. X-ray fluorescence (XRF) analysis of major elements shows that the contents of Fe are related to goethite and ankerite, and to the poorly crystalline phases. Inductively coupled plasma emission spectrometry (ICP-ES) analysis (of trace elements Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, Zn shows a linear correlation between Fe2O3 and Cd, Cu, Ni, Zn. Copyright (C) 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.