Isotope geochemistry of Pantelleria volcanic fluids, Sicily Channel rift: a mantle volatile end-member for volcanism in southern Europe

2000

Chemical and isotopic ratio (He, C, H and O) analysis of hydrothermal manifestations on Pantelleria island, the southernmost active volcano in Italy, provides us with the first data upon mantle degassing through the Sicily Channel rift zone, south of the African–European collision plate boundary. We find that Pantelleria fluids contain a CO2–He-rich gas component of mantle magmatic derivation which, at shallow depth, variably interacts with a main thermal (∼100°C) aquifer of mixed marine–meteoric water. The measured 3He/4He ratios and δ13C of both the free gases (4.5–7.3 Ra and −5.8 to −4.2‰, respectively) and dissolved helium and carbon in waters (1.0–6.3 Ra and −7.1 to −0.9‰), together wi…