0000000000114658
AUTHOR
Salvatore Inguaggiato
Molecular and isotopic composition of free hydrocarbon gases from Sicily, Italy
[1] Chemical and isotopic data have been used as geochemical tracers for a genetic characterization of hydrocarbon gases from a total of eleven manifestations located in Eastern and Central-Southern Sicily (Italy). The molecular analysis shows that almost all the samples are enriched in methane (up to 93.2% Vol.), with the exception of four gas samples collected around Mt. Etna showing high mantle-derived CO2 content. Methane isotope signatures suggest that these are thermogenic gases or a mixture between thermogenic gases and microbial gases. Although samples from some mud volcanoes in Southern Sicily (Macalube di Aragona) show isotope signatures consistent with a mixing model between ther…
Soil and fumarole gases of Mount Etna: geochemistry and relations with volcanic activity
Abstract Between 1993 and 1996, gas samples were collected on Mt. Etna volcano from both high- and low-temperature fumaroles and from soils in areas of anomalous degassing located on the flanks of the volcanic edifice. The chemical composition of all the emitted gases is consistent with their magmatic origin. During their transport to the surface, they would undergo shallow mixing processes, mostly with air. Locally, as in the case of a point in the lower southwestern flank of the volcano (P39), very high contents of He and CH4 indicate that deep gases mainly interact with ground waters and also with a hydrocarbon reservoir. The isotopic composition of carbon in CO2 from these gases also su…
Total CO2output from Vulcano island (Aeolian Islands, Italy)
[1] Total CO2 output from fumaroles, soil gas, bubbling gas discharges and water dissolved gases discharged from the island, was estimated for Vulcano island, Italy. The CO2 emission from fumaroles from the La Fossa summit crater was estimated from the SO2 crater output, while CO2 discharged through diffuse soil emission was quantified on the basis of 730 measurements of CO2 fluxes from the soil of the island, performed by using the accumulation chamber method. The results indicate an overall output of ≅500 t day−1 of CO2 from the island. The main contribution to the total CO2 output comes from the summit area of the La Fossa cone (453 t day−1), with 362 t day−1 from crater fumaroles and 91…
Emission of bromine and iodine from Mount Etna volcano
[1] Constraining fluxes of volcanic bromine and iodine to the atmosphere is important given the significant role these species play in ozone depletion. However, very few such measurements have been made hitherto, such that global volcanic fluxes are poorly constrained. Here we extend the data set of volcanic Br and I degassing by reporting the first measurements of bromine and iodine emissions from Mount Etna. These data were obtained using filter packs and contemporaneous ultraviolet spectroscopic SO2 flux measurements, resulting in time-averaged emission rates of 0.7 kt yr−1 and 0.01 kt yr−1 for Br and I, respectively, from April to October 2004, from which we estimate global Br and I flu…
Major and trace element geochemistry of neutral and acidic thermal springs at El Chichón volcano, Mexico
Abstract Four groups of thermal springs with temperatures from 50 to 80 °C are located on the S–SW–W slopes of El Chichon volcano, a composite dome-tephra edifice, which exploded in 1982 with a 1 km wide, 160 m deep crater left. Very dynamic thermal activity inside the crater (variations in chemistry and migration of pools and fumaroles, drastic changes in the crater lake volume and chemistry) contrasts with the stable behavior of the flank hot springs during the time of observations (1974–2005). All known groups of hot springs are located on the contact of the basement and volcanic edifice, and only on the W–SW–S slopes of the volcano at almost same elevations 600–650 m asl and less than 3…
Hydrogeochemistry and stable isotopes of thermal springs: earthquake-related chemical changes along Belice Fault (Western Sicily)
Abstract Three geothermal systems, Montevago, Castellammare-Alcamo and Sciacca, are located along the main seismogenetic structures in Western Sicily. Concentrations of dissolved species including the gases CO 2 , N 2 , He and the results of stable isotope measurements δ 18 O, δ D and δ 13 C TDIC in water samples collected from six thermal springs and 28 cold discharges were used to characterise their feeder aquifers and to reveal the relationships between water chemistry and regional seismicity. The Sciacca thermal springs differ chemically and isotopically from those of Montevago and the Castellammare-Alcamo areas. The inferred deep end-members of the thermal waters of Montevago and Caste…
Accurate measurement of volcanic SO2flux: Determination of plume transport speed and integrated SO2concentration with a single device
[1] Ground-based measurements of volcanic sulfur dioxide fluxes are important indicators of volcanic activity, with application in hazard assessment, and understanding the impacts of volcanic emissions upon the environment and climate. These data are obtained by making traverses underneath the volcanic plume a few kilometers from source with an ultraviolet spectrometer, measuring integrated SO2 concentrations across the plume's cross section, and multiplying by the plume's transport speed. However, plume velocities are usually derived from ground-based anemometers, located many kilometers from the traverse route and hundreds of meters below plume altitude, complicating the experimental desi…
Long-time variation of soil CO2 fluxes at the summit crater of Vulcano (Italy)
Here, we report the first continuous data of geochemical parameters acquired directly from the active summit crater of Vulcano. This approach provides a means to better investigate deep geochemical processes associated with the degassing system of Vulcano Island. In particular, we report on soil CO2 fluxes from the upper part of Vulcano, a closed-conduit volcano, from September 2007 to October 2010. Large variations in the soil CO2 and plume SO2 fluxes (order of magnitude), coinciding with other discontinuous geochemical parameters (CO2 concentrations in fumarole gas) and physical parameters (increase of shallow seismic activity and fumarole temperatures) have been recorded. The results fro…
Intercomparison of volcanic gas monitoring methodologies performed on Vulcano Island, Italy
[1] Volcanic gas emissions from fumaroles on the rim of La Fossa crater, Vulcano Island, Italy, were measured simultaneously using direct sampling (for H2O, CO2, total sulfur, HCl and HF), filter packs (for SO2, HCl, HF) and short-path active-mode FTIR measurements (for H2O, CO2, SO2, HCl and HF) in an intercomparison study in May 2002. The results show that Cl/F ratios were in good agreement between all three methods, and that FTIR and direct sampling determined comparable proportions of CO2 and H2O. Amounts of total S observed in direct sampling data were approximately double the amounts of SO2 measured with filter packs and FTIR. This difference could be attributed either to the fact FTI…
Interaction between the deep fluids and the shallow groundwaters on Vulcano island (Italy)
The aim of this work is to study the interactions processes between the fluids of deep origin and the shallow groundwaters of the Vulcano Porto area. During 1995, 13 well waters were sampled three times (May, July and November) and analysed for major and some minor elements (B, Br and NH4) and for dissolved gases. The close relationship of these waters with the deep magmatic source is highlighted by the composition of the dissolved gases. Furthermore, the areal distribution of dissolved species is controlled mainly by the gas fluxes from depth and by the presence of a deeper thermal aquifer. The distribution of major anomalies in the parameters measured in the groundwaters, in fact, overlap…
Continuous SO2 flux measurements for Vulcano Island, Italy
<p>The La Fossa cone of Vulcano Island (Aeolian Archipelago, Italy) is a closed conduit volcano. Today, Vulcano Island is characterized by sulfataric activity, with a large fumarolic field that is mainly located in the summit area. A scanning differential optical absorption spectroscopy instrument designed by the Optical Sensing Group of Chalmers University of Technology in Göteborg, Sweden, was installed in the framework of the European project "Network for Observation of Volcanic and Atmospheric Change", in March 2008. This study presents the first dataset of SO<sub>2</sub> plume fluxes recorded for a closed volcanic system. Between 2008 and 2010, the SO<sub>2</…
Sources, size distribution, and downwind grounding of aerosols from Mount Etna
The number concentrations and size distributions of aerosol particles >0.3 mm diameter were measured at the summit of Mount Etna and up to 10 km downwind from the degassing vents during July and August 2004. Aerosol number concentrations reached in excess of 9 106 L1 at summit vents, compared to 4–8 104 L1 in background air. Number concentrations of intermediate size particles were higher in emissions from the Northeast crater compared to other summit crater vents, and chemical composition measurements showed that Northeast crater aerosols contained a higher mineral cation content compared to those from Voragine or Bocca Nuova, attributed to Strombolian or gas puffing activity within the ve…
Reactive halogen chemistry in volcanic plumes
[1] Bromine monoxide (BrO) and sulphur dioxide (SO2) abundances as a function of the distance from the source were measured by ground-based scattered light Multiaxis Differential Optical Absorption Spectroscopy (MAX-DOAS) in the volcanic plumes of Mt. Etna on Sicily, Italy, in August–October 2004 and May 2005 and Villarica in Chile in November 2004. BrO and SO2 spatial distributions in a cross section of Mt. Etna's plume were also determined by Imaging DOAS. We observed an increase in the BrO/SO2 ratio in the plume from below the detection limit near the vent to about 4.5 × 10−4 at 19 km (Mt. Etna) and to about 1.3 × 10−4 at 3 km (Villarica) distance, respectively. Additional attempts were …
Geochemical and hydrogeological characterization of thermal springs in Western Sicily, Italy
Abstract Thermal and cold waters from Castellammare–Alcamo (Western Sicily-Italy) were collected between May 1994 and May 1995 and studied for their chemical and isotopic composition. During the same period, mean monthly samples of meteoric water were also collected and measured for their isotopic composition. The main purpose of this study was the characterization of the acquifers and, if possible, of their recharge areas. According to the results obtained, the acquifers were divided into three main groups: (a) selenitic waters, (b) cold carbonatic waters, and (c) deep thermal waters resulting from the mixing of the other two types. Besides a mixing process between carbonatic and selenitic…
Dissolved CO2 in natural waters: development of an automated monitoring system and first application to Stromboli volcano (Italy)
The study of geochemical parameters applied to natural systems has provided improved knowledge of geochemical mechanisms of gas/rock dissolution in natural waters that are linked to gas-water and/or water-rock interaction processes. Here we present the results of our studies focused on the development of an automated monitoring system for measuring the amount of dissolved CO2 in natural waters. The system is based on the principle of a dynamic equilibrium between water and the air as the host gas. The PCO2 measurements were carried out every four hours, and the equilibration time was around 20 minutes. Moreover, application to the thermal aquifer of Stromboli volcano during the 2009-2010 pe…
H2S fluxes from Mt. Etna, Stromboli, and Vulcano (Italy) and implications for the sulfur budget at volcanoes
Abstract We present here new measurements of sulfur dioxide and hydrogen sulfide emissions from Vulcano, Etna, and Stromboli (Italy), made by direct sampling at vents and by filter pack and ultraviolet spectroscopy in downwind plumes. Measurements at the F0 and FA fumaroles on Vulcano yielded SO 2 /H 2 S molar ratios of ≈0.38 and ≈1.4, respectively, from which we estimate an H 2 S flux of 6 to 9 t · d −1 for the summit crater. For Mt. Etna and Stromboli, we found SO 2 /H 2 S molar ratios of ≈20 and ≈15, respectively, which combined with SO 2 flux measurements, suggest H 2 S emission rates of 50 to 113 t · d −1 and 4 to 8 t · d −1 , respectively. We observe that “source” and plume SO 2 /H 2 …
Zr, Hf and REE distribution in river water under different ionic strength conditions
International audience; The Platani River flowing in south-central Sicily, interacting with evaporite rocks, generates a wide range of ionic strength in the water catchment from 0.1 to 5.0 mol kg−1. We sampled 38 river sites and analysed the composition for the dissolved fraction filtered through 0.45 μm, the truly dissolved fraction obtained through ultrafiltration (10 kDa) and the relative included colloidal fraction.This study was focused on the recognition of Zr, Hf and REE behaviour under changing ionic strength conditions, since this is one of parameters responsible for colloid stability in natural waters. In turn, this phenomenon leads to REE release from the colloidal fraction and t…
Mineral control of arsenic content in thermal waters from volcano-hosted hydrothermal systems: Insights from island of Ischia and Phlegrean Fields (Campanian Volcanic Province, Italy)
This paper documents arsenic concentrations in 157 groundwater samples from the island of Ischia and the Phlegrean Fields, two of the most active volcano-hosted hydrothermal systems from the Campanian Volcanic Province (Southern Italy), in an attempt to identify the environmental conditions and mineral-solution reactions governing arsenic aqueous cycling. On Ischia and in the Phlegrean Fields, groundwaters range in composition from NaCl brines, which we interpret as the surface discharge of deep reservoir fluids, to shallow-depth circulating fluids, the latter ranging from acid-sulphate steam-heated to hypothermal, cold, bicarbonate groundwaters. Arsenic concentrations range from 1.6 to 690…