Mineral
Chrysotile (white asbestos)
Mg₃Si₂O₅(OH)₄Krizotil (beyaz asbest)
White asbestos: its heat-resistant fibres were used everywhere for a century, but when inhaled they cause cancer; it is now banned in many countries.
Also known as: White asbestos · Serpentine asbestos
- Handle with care
- Industrial
In short
Chrysotile is a mineral of the serpentine group that crystallises as fine, flexible, silky fibres. Most of the asbestos ever used worldwide was chrysotile. When its fibres are inhaled they lodge in the lungs and the lining around them, and years later they can cause serious diseases such as lung cancer, mesothelioma and asbestosis.
How does it form, and why was it used?
Chrysotile forms when ultramafic rocks rich in olivine and pyroxene react with water and turn into serpentinite, and it grows as fibres in cracks in the rock. Because it is heat- and fire-resistant, cheap and flexible, it was widely used in the 20th century in roofing sheets, water pipes, brake linings and insulation. Once its health effects were understood, the European Union banned all types of asbestos in 2005 and Türkiye at the end of 2010. According to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), Russia, China, Kazakhstan and Brazil still produce asbestos today.
In Türkiye: the danger of “white soil”
In some rural parts of Anatolia, white soils (“ak toprak”) that naturally contain asbestos were used for generations to plaster and whitewash houses. According to research, the asbestos most often found in these soils is tremolite, an amphibole; studies in a town in Malatya and a village in Isparta also found chrysotile. Villages exposed in this way have shown markedly higher rates of mesothelioma and lung cancer. Mesothelioma in some villages of Cappadocia, however, is linked not to asbestos but to erionite, a fibrous zeolite mineral. Ending the use of asbestos-bearing soil, having old plaster removed safely by specialists and regular health screening of people at risk are ways to reduce these diseases.
How to recognise it
- 1
It appears as silky, white or pale green fibres lined up across veins in cracks of dark green serpentine rock.
- 2
Its fibres are curly and flexible, while those of amphibole asbestos such as tremolite are straighter and stiffer. This difference can only be seen safely under a microscope.
- 3
In old buildings it may be found in roofing and cladding sheets, water pipes, insulation and brake linings; from the outside these materials look like ordinary cement or fibre products.
- 4
Only an accredited laboratory can tell whether a material contains asbestos and which type. Do not try to examine a suspect material yourself by breaking or scraping it.
Fakes and imitations
What shops usually don’t tell you:
- The claim that “white asbestos is safe” is false: IARC classifies all types of asbestos, including chrysotile, as carcinogenic to humans (Group 1).
- Green serpentine (antigorite, lizardite) worked as an ornamental stone has the same composition as chrysotile but is not fibrous. Even so, serpentine rock may contain chrysotile veins, so protect yourself from dust when cutting it.
- Not every white mineral with silky fibres is asbestos: ulexite (“TV stone”) and fibrous gypsum look similar. But only a laboratory can confirm that a material is not asbestos.
Safety
Chrysotile and all other types of asbestos are carcinogenic to humans (IARC Group 1). Diseases caused by inhaled fibres, such as lung cancer, mesothelioma (cancer of the lining of the lungs or abdomen) and asbestosis, may appear only decades later. Do not break, cut, sand or dry-sweep materials suspected of containing asbestos; call licensed asbestos-removal specialists. Collection specimens should be kept in a sealed, labelled container and should not be handled or broken. In Türkiye the production, placing on the market and use of asbestos and asbestos-containing products has been banned since 31 December 2010, and in the European Union since 1 January 2005.
Did you know?
Its name comes from the Greek words for “gold” and “fibre”. “Chrysotile” is actually the shared name of three very similar structural types: clinochrysotile, orthochrysotile and parachrysotile.
Chrysotile's atomic layers roll up like paper into microscopic tubes, which is why its fibres are so thin and flexible.
Where is it found?
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- Asbest, Sverdlovsk Oblast, Russia · Major depositThe large open pit that gave the town its name; Russia is today the largest asbestos producer (USGS, 2026)
- Zhitikara, Kostanay, Kazakhstan · Major deposit
- Minaçu, Goiás, Brazil · Major depositBrazil's only asbestos producer; the State of Goiás passed a law in 2024 to phase out mining
- Thetford Mines, Québec, Canada · Historic sourceOnce one of the world's leading chrysotile mining centres; the mines have closed
Locations are approximate to protect sites. Red dots mark places in Türkiye. Open in the big map →
Sources
- Handbook of Mineralogy: Clinochrysotile · Mineralogical Society of America
- IARC Monographs Volume 100C: Arsenic, Metals, Fibres, and Dusts (Asbestos) · International Agency for Research on Cancer (WHO), 2012
- Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026: Asbestos · U.S. Geological Survey, 2026
- Asbestos Ban in Turkey! (Kazan-Allen) · International Ban Asbestos Secretariat, 2010
- Commission Directive 1999/77/EC (ban on all asbestos fibres in the EU from 1 January 2005) · European Union (EUR-Lex), 1999
- Environmental exposure to asbestos in eastern Turkey (Hasanoğlu et al.), Archives of Environmental Health 58: 144–150 · PubMed, 2003
- Observations on environmental asbestos exposure in a high risk area (Şahin et al.), Respirology 14: 579–582 · PubMed, 2009
- Environmental asbestos exposure in rural Turkey and risk of lung cancer (Metintaş et al.), International Journal of Environmental Health Research 22: 468–479 · PubMed, 2012
- Environmental mesothelioma associated with tremolite asbestos: lessons from the experiences of Turkey, Greece, Corsica, New Caledonia and Cyprus (Constantopoulos), Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology 52: S110–S115 · PubMed, 2008
External links
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On the same step
Andesite
The rock of volcanic arcs, named after the Andes — and the pink-grey stone of Ankara Castle.
Augite (pyroxene)
The most common pyroxene, which darkens basalt and gabbro: inconspicuous, yet one of the key building blocks of Earth’s crust.
Basalt
The rock of the ocean floors and the Moon’s dark plains — the most common volcanic rock on Earth.