ARSENIC, HEAVY METALS AND RARE EARTH ELEMENTS IN TRAVERTINE LIMESTONE QUARRY IN THE MARIOVO AREA, NORTH MACEDONIA

Abstract

Travertines in the Mariovo area are an extremely important raw material for obtaining architectural and decorative stone used in construction. In this region, there are six locations where travertine is exploited and this paper presents the results obtained from the mineralogical and geochemical tests of samples taken from the Mariovo travertines. The tests performed show that these are relatively young sedimentary rocks that are basically made of calcite, and in which the concentration of arsenic and heavy metals is extremely low. This finding supports the further use of these rocks as architectural and decorative stone.