External micro-PIXE analysis of fluid inclusions: Test of the LABEC facility on samples of quartz veins from Apuan Alps (Italy)

Fluid inclusions are small portions, usually smaller than 100 mu m, of fluid trapped within minerals during or after growth. Their characteristics provide therefore fundamental information on nature and evolution of fluids present in the past in different geological environments. At the LABEC laboratory in Firenze, high-salinity fluid inclusions in quartz crystals, coming from the Apuan Alps metamorphic complex, were analysed at the external scanning microbeam. Results, although still preliminary, have already provided us with hints on fluid-rock interaction processes during the metamorphism of the Apuan Alps. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.