THE GEOCHEMICAL SIGNATURE OF NATIVE GOLD FROM ROŞIA MONTANĂ AND MUSARIU ORE DEPOSITS METALIFERI MTS. (ROMANIA); PRELIMINARY DATA - Carpathian Journal of Earth And Environmental Sciences

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Antonela NEACŞU¹, Gheorghe C. POPESCU¹, Bogdan CONSTANTINESCU², Angela VASILESCU² & Daniele CECCATO³
¹University of Bucharest, Department of Mineralogy, 1, N. Bălcescu Blvd., Romania chihlimbar67@yahoo.com
²Horia Hulubei National Institute of Nuclear Physics and Engineering, Bucharest, Măgurele, Romania;
³Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Laboratori Nazionali di Legnaro, Padova, Italy

THE GEOCHEMICAL SIGNATURE OF NATIVE GOLD FROM ROŞIA MONTANĂ AND MUSARIU ORE DEPOSITS METALIFERI MTS. (ROMANIA); PRELIMINARY DATA

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Abstract: The main components of gold alloys (Au-Ag-Cu) as well as related trace elements (Sn, Te, Sb, Hg, Pb, Platinum Group Elements - PGE) are very important to authenticate archaeological gold artifacts. In order to find the provenance of ancient gold artifacts found on the Romanian territory we attempted to understand if a chemical-elemental signature exists for Romanian gold. Several analytical methods were used to investigate gold ores and gold artifacts, such as the electron microprobe, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), micro synchrotron radiation induced X-ray fluorescence (micro-SR-XRF). Among the goals of the study was to demonstrate that micro particle induced X-ray emission (micro-PIXE) could be a useful tool in establishing the origin of gold ancient artifacts.

Keyword: gold artifacts, micro-PIXE, Roşia Montană, Musariu, polished samples, maps.