POTENTIALITIES FOR THERAPEUTIC PURPOSES OF THE BIOGENIC CARBONATE SAND OCCURRING IN SOME ISLANDS OF THE MACARONESIA’ ARCHIPELAGO BASED ON THEIR UNIQUE CHEMICAL AND PHYSICAL PROPERTIES

Abstract

Minerals are fundamental constituents of the natural environment. As a rule, mineralscan have both negative and positive impacts on human health. However, the research thathas been carried out worldwide, for obvious reasons, emphasizes more the hazardouseffects than the beneficial effects. This paper deals with the relevant properties fortherapeutic uses of biogenic carbonate sand that occurs in certain islands of thecomprehensive biogeographic archipelago of Macaronesia which includes the archipelagosof Azores, Madeira, Canaries and Cape Verde. The paper discloses the results of theinvestigation carried out on that type of sand, particularly focused on its mineralogical andgeochemical characterization, seeking scientific arguments able to justify the empirical useduring many decades in the island of Porto Santo, archipelago of Madeira, of the sand ashealing material for muscular-skeletal diseases, such as: rheumatoid arthritis, osteoporosisand fibromyalgia.

Keywords

• biogenic carbonate sands
• therapeutic purposes
• macaronesia archipelago