Search results for "Planetary Science"
showing 10 items of 4367 documents
Geochemistry and potential use of groundwater in the Rocca Busambra area (Sicily, Italy)
2008
In the Rocca Busambra area (mid-west Sicily, Italy), from November 1999 to July 2002, 23 water points including wells and springs were sampled and studied for their chemical and isotopic compositions. Two rain gauges were also installed at different altitudes, and rainwater was collected monthly to determine the isotopic composition. The obtained results revealed the Rocca Busambra carbonate complex as being the main recharge area on account of its high permeability value. From a chemical view point, two main groups of water can be distinguished: calcium–magnesium–bicarbonate-type and calcium–magnesium–chloride–sulphate-type waters. The first group reflects the dissolution of the carbonate …
Fluorine speciation in topsoils of three active volcanoes of Sicily (Italy)
2008
Fluorine is one of the many environmental harmful elements released by volcanic activity. The content of total oxalate-extractable and water-extractable fluorine was determined in 96 topsoils of three active volcanic systems of southern Italy (Mt Etna, Stromboli and Vulcano). Total fluorine (F) content (F TOT) ranges from 112 to 7,430 mg kg−1, F extracted with oxalate (F OX) ranges from 16 to 2,320 mg kg−1 (2–93% of F TOT) and F extracted with distilled water ( $$ F_{{{\text{H}}_{{\text{2}}} {\text{O}}}} $$ ) ranges from 1.7 to 159 mg kg−1 (0.2–40 % of F TOT). Fluorine in the sampled topsoils derives both from the weathering of volcanic rocks and ashes and from the enhanced deposition due t…
A christmas gift: Signature of the 24th December 2018 eruption of Mt. Etna on the chemical composition of bulk deposition in eastern sicily
2020
The eruption of Mt. Etna which occurred on December 24th 2018 was characterized by strombolian activity and fire fountains, emitted by the New South-East Crater and along a fissure that propagated towards the SE. The influence of volcanic emissions on atmospheric deposition was clearly detectable at several kilometres from the source. Wet and dry (bulk) deposition samples were collected each month, through a network of eleven collectors, in the areas of Milazzo, and Priolo between June 2018 and June 2019. They were analysed for major ions and trace elements concentrations. The pH values range from 3.9 to 8.3, while the EC values range from 7 to 396 μS cm-1. An extensive neutralization of th…
Pan-African high-pressure metamorphism in the Precambrian basement of the Menderes Massif, western Anatolia, Turkey
2001
The Menderes Massif is made up of Pan-African basement and a Paleozoic to Early Tertiary cover sequence imbricated by Late Alpine deformation. The Precambrian basement comprises primarily medium- to high-grade schists, paragneisses, migmatites, orthogneisses, metagranites, charnockites, and metagabbros. High-pressure relies in the Pan-African basement are divided into two groups: eclogites and eclogitic metagabbros. The mineral assemblage in the eclogites is omphacite (Jd 44)-garnet-clinozoisite-rutile. The eclogites occur as pods and boudinaged layers in the basement schists and paragneisses. Inclusions found in the cores of the garnets indicate a medium-pressure protolith. The eclogitic m…
Magmatic degassing of multicomponent vapors and assessment of magma depth: application to Vulcano Island (Italy)
2001
Degassing of magmatic H2O, CO2 and rare gases plays a major role in understanding large-scale Earth processes and in the assessment of volcanic activity. Here we describe a quantitative model for magmatic degassing of H2O–CO2–noble gas–N2 mixtures. Our modeling takes into account non-ideal behaviors by adopting recently developed approaches for the solubility of H2O–CO2 mixtures in silicate liquids and for noble gas partitioning in H2O–CO2 bearing magmas. This new approach allows quantitative treatment of inert gas fractionation throughout the degassing of any H2O–CO2 bearing natural magma in a wide range of thermo-baric conditions. Magma degassing simulations performed by our model have cl…
Anomalous magmatic degassing prior to the 5th April 2003 paroxysm on Stromboli
2004
[1] A major explosion occurred at Stromboli on April 5 2003, being the most powerful event over a period of exceptional eruptive activity lasting from December to July. Here, we describe results from a network of diffusive tubes set up on the Stromboli's summit area, aimed at a characterisation of plume composition (SO2, HCl, HF) prior to and after April 5. Data analysis revealed anomalous sulphur degassing 2–3 days before the event, when SO2/HCl ratios (≈9) significantly higher than those typical of quiescent degassing (≈1) were recorded. We interpret this exceptional plume signature as an evidence of S-rich magmas ascending in the shallow plumbing system, and propose high SO2/HCl as a pot…
Morphometric indices as indicators of tectonic, fluvial and karst processes in calcareous drainage basins, South Menorca Island, Spain
2007
This study proposes using morphometric indices to discriminate the processes that shape calcareous drainage basins. To illustrate this, a DEM of the southern part of Menorca Island (Migjorn) was created and basin slope, drainage density, hypsometric curve and integral, and the area occupied by open and closed dolines were extracted from it. These indices show an important dependence on tectonics, which govern the morphology of these drainage basins and encourage the predominance of karst and/or fluvial processes in the different sectors. The morphometric indices are clearly influenced by the geological Migjorn structure, a carbonate Upper Miocene reef platform gently folded as an asymmetric…
Geology of the Bozdag area, central Menderes massif, SW Turkey: Pan-African basement and Alpine deformation
1998
The Menderes massif consists of a Precambrian Core Series that preserves evidence for a polymetamorphic history and a Paleozoic/Mesozoic Cover Series that experienced only the Alpine tectonometamorphic evolution. Structural, petrographic, and geochronologic investigations in the central Menderes massif demonstrate that (a) part of the metamorphic and structural evolution of the Precambrian basement is older than the undeformed 551+/-1.4-Ma-old Birgi metagranite, and (b) inferred Alpine fabrics overprinting the Cover Series largely have the same attitudes as the old structures in the much older Core Series. The inferred Alpine fabrics include both contractional and extensional structures. Co…
Structures along the Orobic thrust, Central Orobic Alps, Italy
1997
A series of regional deformation phases is described for the metamorphic basement and the Permian cover in an area in the central Orobic Alps, northern Italy. In the basement deformation under low-grade amphibolite metamorphic conditions is followed by a second phase during retrograde greenschist conditions. These two phases predate the deposition of the Permian cover and are of probable Variscan age. An extensional basin formed on the eroded basement during the Late Carboniferous, filled with fan conglomerates and sandstones, and rhyolitic volcanic rocks. Well-preserved brittle extensional faults bound these basins. Further extension deformed basement and cover before the onset of Alpine c…
Intercomparison of volcanic gas monitoring methodologies performed on Vulcano Island, Italy
2004
[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…