Geochemistry of salts and the effect of trace elements on human health: Turkey salt resources

ABSTRACT

Salt plays a vital role in many body functions. Humans must consume a well-balanced amount of salt to remain healthy as deficiency or excess of it causes many health problems. The major oxide element’s values are only evaluated while processing for production; however, the type and amount of the trace elements in the salt are also important as they may entail risks for human health. This study concerns the mineralogy and geochemistry of salt samples which are taken from several salt mines and localities in Turkey. In addition, these local samples are compared with well-known samples from Himalayas and Asal Lake (Djibouti Southeast Africa) salt mines. The X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) and Confocal Raman Spectroscopy (CRS) analysis reveal that the most of Turkish salts are mainly composed of halite with minor amounts of thenardite and gypsum as well as the low concentrations of some potentially toxic elements (PTEs) such as As, Cd, Co, Hg, Mn, Ni, Pb and Zn. The samples from Tuz Lake have significant contents of As, Co, Cu, Mn, Ni, U and Zn. The mineralogy and geochemistry of the samples reveal a mixture of residual seawaters with the redissolving of the crystalized salt minerals in the region. Although the quality of the salts is mostly evaluated with the content of NaCl, the significant contents of the PTEs in the salt may be accumulated by time and danger human health.

KEYWORDS:

• Salt
• rock salt
• XRD
• XRF
• Turkey

Acknowledgments

The author is grateful to Associate Professor Murat Eroglu (Kastamonu University) and Mustafa Gok (Ankara University) for their support in procurement of some samples, to research assistant Aslıhan Korkmaz (Ankara University) and Emine Sernur Dursun (Ankara University) for sample preparation for the analysis, and to unknown reviewers for their contribution of manuscript.

Disclosure of potential conflicts of interest

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

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Funding

This research was supported by the Earth Sciences Application and Research Center of (YEBIM) Ankara University