Wastes accumulated at Piekary Śląskie, Poland, are the result of 150 years of continuous working of the Orzeł Biały smelting plant. Slags are composed of: oxides (spinel, hematite, zincite); silicates and aluminosilicates (olivine, monticellite–kirschteinite, titanite, merwinite, pyroxene, melilite, feldspars: plagioclases and plumbean K-feldspar, nepheline, kalsilite, leucite); sulfides (pyrrhotite, rudashevskyite, galena), metallic phases (pure iron and iron–arsenic mixture) and secondary phases (gypsum, rapidcreekite, apatite). Interstices between the crystalline phases are filled by glass, concentrating toxic and potentially harmful elements, e.g. up to 53.22 wt.% PbO. The sequence of crystallization of primary phases depended on the local variability of oxygen fugacity and degree of calcination, while the texture type resulted from the cooling time and partial pressure of volatiles. Suggested crystallization temperatures are in the range of 1200–1500°C. Bulk chemical analyses show that the slags are composed mainly of SiO₂, Al₂O₃,Fe₂O₃, MgO and CaO. Among the potentially harmful elements, Zn is the most common, reaching up to 5.93 wt.%, Pb is present in concentrations up to 3.9 wt.% and As in weathered samples exceeds 1 wt.%. Leaching tests of these elements confirms As mobility as Zn and Pb are preferably leached from fresh slags, while As is present in greater amounts in leachate from weathered slag samples. The documented amounts of As, Zn, Pb and their mobility in slags produce an environmental risk, as this material is currently used widely for commercial purposes.

The Tatra granitoid pluton (Central Western Carpathians, Poland/Slovakia) is an example of composite polygenetic intrusion, comprising many magmatic pulses varying compositionally from diorite to granite. The U–Pb LA-MC-ICP-MS zircon dating of successive magma batches indicates the presence of magmatic episodes at 370–368, 365, 360, 355 and 350–340 Ma, all together covering a time span of 30 Ma of magmatic activity. The partial resorption and recycling of former granitoid material (“petrological cannibalism”) was a result of the incremental growth of the pluton and temperature in the range of 750–850 °C. The long-lasting granitoid magmatism was connected to the prolonged subduction of oceanic crust and collision of the Proto-Carpathian Terrane with a volcanic arc and finally with Laurussia, closing the Rheic Ocean. The differences in granitoid composition are the results of different depths of crustal melting. More felsic magmas were generated in the outer zone of the volcanic arc, whilst more mafic magmas were formed in the inner part of the supra-subduction zone. The source rocks of the granitoid magmas covered the compositional range of metapelite–amphibolite and were from both lower and upper crust. The presence of the inherited zircon cores suggests that the collision and granitoid magmatism involved crust of Cadomian consolidation age (c. 530 and 518 Ma) forming the Proto-Carpathian Terrane, crust of Avalonian affinity (462, 426 Ma) and melted metasedimentary rocks of volcanic arc provenance.

In the Variscan Western Tatra granites hybridization phenomena such as mixing and mingling can be observed at the contact of mafic precursors of dioritic composition and more felsic granitic host rocks. The textural evidence of hybridization include: plagioclase–K-feldspar–sphene ocelli, hornblende- and biotite-rimmed quartz ocelli, plagioclase with Ca-rich spike zonation, inversely zoned K-feldspar crystals, mafic clots, poikilitic plagioclase and quartz crystals, mixed apatite morphologies, zoned K-feldspar phenocrysts. The apparent pressure range of the magma hybridization event was calculated at 6.1 kbar to 4.6 kbar, while the temperature, calculated by independent methods, is in the range of 810°C−770°C. U-Pb age data of the hybrid rocks were obtained by in-situ LA-MC-ICP-MS analysis of zircon. The oscillatory zoned zircon crystals yield a concordia age of 368 ± 8 Ma (MSWD = 1.1), interpreted as the age of magma hybridization and timing of formation of the magmatic precursors. It is the oldest Variscan magmatic event in that part of the Tatra Mountains.