Environmental Mineralogy

Environmental mineralogy contributes to understanding the behavior of elements in ecosystems that are in material cycles of nature due to natural processes but also anthropogenic activities (agriculture, industry, mining, waste management, energy production).

Expertises at the Department include the possible immobilization of pollutants or elements harmful to health in stable mineral host phases. Special focus is on radiogenic isotopes and their incorporation into radiation-resistant silicates and phosphates on the one hand, and on the formation processes of heavy metal hydrates for the binding of toxic heavy metals (e.g. thallium, arsenic) on the other hand.

Mineralogy of Mining Waste

In November 2022, Dr. Tamara Đorđević invited and guided the team of OeAD in charge Scientific and Technological Cooperation (S&T) to the Geozentrum of the Vienna University. An article about it was published: To the article

In October 2020, Dr. Tamara Đorđević took part in the radio show “Punkt Eins” of the “Österreich 1” (Ö1) radio station talking about mining wastes and answering the questions of the listeners. To the broadcast (de)

In September 2020, Dr. Tamara Đorđević gave an interview on the abandoned mines for the Austrian daily newspaper “Die Presse”, which resulted in an article published on October 17, 2020. To the article (de)

In June 2020, an article on the new materials discovered in the toxic mining wastes was published in the “Scilog magazine” of FWF. To the article

In June 2018, an article on mining wastes as natural laboratories was published on the web-page of the Faculty of Earth Sciences, Geography and Astronomy, University of Vienna. To the article (de)