Pizzi Deneri Field Trips - Etna 2010-2014

Monitoring Volcanic Eruptions Using Trace Metals In Tree-Rings: Preliminary Results From Mt. Etna

8. Active volcanoes can influence surrounding vegetation both through passive degassing during quiescent periods and through eruptive degassing, by introducing into the atmosphere several metals as gases and particles. The chemical composition of tree-rings has been generally used to investigate the effects of anthropogenic gas emissions and dendrochemical methods have successfully recorded variations in the pollution levels. The use of tree-rings analysis in active volcanic areas has shown that vascular plants could be used as archives of volcanogenic metals deposition. Tree cores of Pinus Nigra and Populus tremula were collected in sites located both on the downwind (Citelli and Mt. Fonta…

Geochemical comparison of natural and anthropogenic metal fluxes in extreme environments: Mt. Etna volcano (Italy) and Šalek Valley (Slovenia)

Geochemical comparison between some metals (As, Cd, Cu, Pb, Se, V, Zn) emissions from an active volcano (Mt. Etna) and a highly industrialized area (Šalek Valley) showed some interesting similarities: in general, most of the elements emitted into the atmosphere do not return to the Earth’s surface and are therefore dispersed into the environment. Exceptions for Šalek Valley are Cd, which probably derives in large part from rock leaching, and in part As and Pb, which fall mostly as ash. Also, Etna’s emissions are richer in Cd and Cu, whereas industrial emissions at Šalek Valley are richer in V and Zn. All other metals have similar fluxes in the two types of emissions.