Chemical and isotopic signatures of the basement rocks from the Campi Flegrei geothermal field (Naples, southern Italy): inferences about the origin and evolution of its hydrothermal fluids

The Campi Flegrei (Naples, Campanian Plain, southern Italy) geothermal system is hosted by Quaternary volcanic rocks erupted before, during and after the formation of the caldera that represents one of the major structural features in the Neapolitan area. The volcanic products rest on a Mesozoic carbonate basement, cropping out north, east and south of the area. Chemical (major, minor and trace elements) and stable isotope (C, H, O) analyses were conducted on drill-core samples recovered from geothermal wells MF-1, MF-5, SV-1 and SV-3, at depths of ˜ 1100 to 2900 m. The study was complemented by petrographic and SEM examination of thin sections. The water which feeds the system is both marine and meteoric in origin. Mineral zonation typical of a high-temperature geothermal system exists in all the geothermal wells; measured temperatures in wells are as high as ˜ 400 °C. The chemical composition of the waters suggests the existence of two reservoirs: a shallow reservoir (depth < 2000 m) fed by seawater that boiled at 320 °C and became progressively diluted by steam-heated local meteoric water during its ascent; and a deeper reservoir (depth > 2000 m) of hypersaline water. The drill-cores are mainly hydrothermally altered volcanics of trachy-latitic affinity, but some altered pelites and limestones are also present. Published Na, Mg and K concentrations of selected geothermal waters indicate that the hydrothermal fluids are in equilibrium with their host rocks, with respect to K-feldspar, albite, sericite and chlorite. The measured δ¹⁸O_(SMOW) values of rocks range from +4.3 to + 16.5%. The measured δD_(SMOW) values range from − 79 to − 46%. The calculated isotopic composition of the fluids at equilibrium with the samples vary from + 1 to + 8.3%. δ¹⁸O and from − 52 to + 1%. δD. The estimated isotopic composition of the waters at equilibrium with the studied samples confirmed the existence of two distinct fluid types circulating in the geothermal system. The shallower has a marine water signature, while the deeper water has a signature consistent both with magmatic and meteoric origins. In the latter case, the recharge of this aquifer likely occurs at the outcrop of the Mesozoic Limestones surrounding the Campanian Plain; after infiltration, the water percolates through evaporitic layers, becoming hypersaline and D-depleted.     

Three-Dimensional Seismic Wave Propagation by Modal Summation: Method and Validation

It is an acquired result that, in order to enable realistic earthquake hazard assessment and reliable estimation of the ground motion response to an earthquake, three-dimensional velocity models have to be considered. In this paper we present a new analytical procedure for determining the seismic wavefield in a 3D anelastic model based on the combination of the ray theory with the modal summation method. The proposed procedure has been validated by considering the three-dimensional model of the Kanto basin (Japan) available in the literature. Three-dimensional simulations were performed for the 1990 Odawara earthquake. The results obtained were compared both with recorded signals and with simulations available in the literature for several stations located within the Kanto basin. Besides the advantage of being a useful tool for assessment of seismic hazard and seismic risk reduction, it is characterized by high efficiency, in fact, once the study region is identified and the 3D model is constructed, the computation, at each station, of the three components of the synthetic signal (displacement, velocity, and acceleration) takes less than 3?h on a 2?GHz CPU.     

Discrimination of coastal wetland environments in the Amazon region based on multi-polarized L-band airborne Synthetic Aperture Radar imagery

This study assessed the use of multi-polarized L-band images for the identification of coastal wetland environments in the Amazon coast region of northern Brazil. Data were acquired with a SAR R99B sensor from the Amazon Surveillance System (SIVAM) on board a Brazilian Air Force jet. Flights took place in the framework of the 2005 MAPSAR simulation campaign, a German-Brazilian feasibility study focusing on a L-band SAR satellite. Information retrieval was based on the recognition of the interaction between a radar signal and shallow-water morphology in intertidal areas, coastal dunes, mangroves, marshes and the coastal plateau. Regarding the performance of polarizations, VV was superior for recognizing intertidal area morphology under low spring tide conditions; HH for mapping coastal environments covered with forest and scrub vegetation such as mangrove and vegetated dunes, and HV was suitable for distinguishing transition zones between mangroves and coastal plateau. The statistical results for the classification maps expressed by kappa index and general accuracy were 83.3% and 0.734 for the multi-polarized color composition (R-HH, G-HV, B-VV), 80.7% and 0.694% for HH, 79.7% and 0.673% for VV, and 77.9% and 0.645% for HV amplitude image. The results indicate that use of multi-polarized L-band SAR is a valuable source of information aiming at the identification and discrimination of distinct geomorphic targets in tropical wetlands.     

Exosphere generation of the Moon investigated through a high-energy neutral detector

Observation of the lunar exosphere is a tool for remote sensing of the surface properties. The sources of this exosphere are related to the interactions of the lunar surface with the solar radiation, with the solar wind or Earth??s magnetospheric plasma, and with the interplanetary dust and meteorites. In fact, the exospheric particles are continuously created and subsequently lost in the interplanetary space, photo-ionized or re-adsorbed by the surface. Eventually, the estimation of the surface composition is not possible without the knowledge of the active release mechanisms. The relative weight of the different release processes of the various atoms, ions and molecules from the surface is still an open debate. Investigation of the Moon??s release processes and interaction with the near-Earth environment is of crucial importance for both determining the relative process release contribution and understanding the surface evolution of other airless bodies, like Mercury and the giant planets?? moons. In this work, an attempt to analyze the processes that take place on the surface of these small airless bodies, as a result of their exposure to the space environment, has been realized by means of the MonteCarlo Environment Simulation Tool (EST), applied to the Moon. The model results show that the different release processes can be identified by analysing the exospheric energy distribution. Finally, the instrument concept of the ??Analizzatore Lunare di ENA?? (ALENA), part of the MAGIA payload and specifically designed for detecting the high-energy particles released from the lunar surface is presented.     

Statistical Analysis of Landslide Events in Central America and their Run-out Distance

Statistical analyses of landslide deposits from similar areas provide information on dynamics and rheology, and are the basis for empirical relationships for the prediction of future events. In Central America landslides represent an important threat in both volcanic and non-volcanic areas. Data, mainly from 348 landslides in Nicaragua, and 19 in other Central American countries have been analyzed to describe landslide characteristics and to search for possible correlations and empirical relationships. The mobility of a landslide, expressed as the ratio between height of fall (H) and run-out distance (L) as a function of the volume and height of fall; and the relationship between the height of fall and run-out distance were studied for rock falls, slides, debris flows and debris avalanches. The data show differences in run-out distance and landslide mobility among different types of landslides and between debris flows in volcanic and non-volcanic areas. The new Central American data add to and seem consistent with data published from other regions. Studies combining field observations and empirical relationships with laboratory studies and numerical simulations will help in the development of more reliable empirical equations for the prediction of landslide run-out, with applications to hazard zonation and design of optimal risk mitigation measures.     

Transfer of organic carbon on the Moroccan Atlantic continental margin (NW Africa): productivity and lateral advection

Land—ocean transfer of sediment and organic matter along the Moroccan Atlantic margin (NW Africa) seems to have been very effective during the last 130 ka. In a marine core from this region, we found total organic carbon (TOC) values ranging from 0.3 to 1.7 dry wt% of bulk sediments. These relatively high values are fairly unusual, as the core was recovered from an open-ocean environment that is currently oligotrophic. In order to explain this trend, more typical of an upwelling eutrophic setting, three processes were evaluated: (1) in situ primary production associated with the extension of the Cape Ghir upwelling filament, (2) bottom water conditions that may favour organic carbon preservation and (3) lateral organic carbon advection. The site occasionally experienced more eutrophic conditions, especially during termination I; here, we recorded a relative high abundance of the planktonic foraminifer Globigerina bulloides, suggesting high primary production. However, given the absence of correlation between TOC and G. bulloides records, high TOC storage cannot be attributed exclusively to primary production. Preservation factors such as bottom water ventilation are also ruled out. Lateral TOC advection seems to be the most plausible process. Today, lateral advection and offshore transport of nutrients and organic matter characterize the study region. However, the triggering mechanisms deserve further investigation. Different controlling factors influencing the mobilization and advection of organic carbon from coastal upwelling sites to the deep basin are discussed. The correlation found between down-core TOC and sea-level changes suggests sea-level fluctuations as the most effective mechanism driving nepheloid layer detachment and seaward material transport.     

Dayside H circulation at Mercury and neutral particle emission

In this study we discuss the proton circulation and the neutral atom emission at Mercury. The H⁺ distribution in space, energy and pitch angle has been simulated by means of a single-particle Monte Carlo model. The applied electric and magnetic field model has been parameterized to take into account different boundary conditions such as interplanetary magnetic field and cross-tail potential drop. Particular attention has been paid to the estimation of the surface-sputtered neutral atoms and the energetic neutral atoms generated via charge-exchange process. The peculiar configuration of the hermean magnetosphere, as it is expected after the Mariner-10 observation of a weak magnetic field, allows a significant part of the incoming solar wind to enter Mercury's environment. For the Bz<−10 nT conditions, intense ion fluxes are expected in the cusp regions, which are extremely large when compared to the Earth's ones. The solar wind particles are likely to rapidly leave the hermean magnetosphere or precipitate onto the planetary surface, thus originating neutral particle emission via ion-sputtering. Two instruments, proposed to fly on board ESA mission BepiColombo (namely: the NPA-IS SERENA suite on the MPO segment and the ENA instrument on the MMO segment) will monitor the neutral signal as well as the precipitating ion particles. The modeled distribution presented here may be considered as a reference tool for the future observations.     

Optical Counterparts of Undetermined Type <Emphasis Type="Italic">γ</Emphasis>-Ray Active Galactic Nuclei with Blazar-Like Spectral Energy Distributions

During its first four years of scientific observations, the Fermi Large Area Telescope (Fermi-LAT) detected 3033 γ-ray sources above a 4 σ significance level. Although most of the extra-galactic sources are active galactic nuclei (AGN) of the blazar class, other families of AGNs are observed too, while a still high fraction of detections (～30%) remains with uncertain association or classification. According to the currently accepted interpretation, the AGN γ-ray emission arises from inverse Compton (IC) scattering of low energy photons by relativistic particles confined in a jet, which, in the case of blazars, is oriented very close to our line-of-sight. Taking advantage of data from radio and X-ray wavelengths, which we expect to be produced together with γ-rays, providing a much better source localization potential, we focused our attention on a sample of γ-ray Blazar Candidates of Undetermined type (BCUs), starting a campaign of optical spectroscopic observations. The main aims of our investigation include a census of the AGN families that contribute to γ-ray emission and a study of their redshift distribution, with the subsequent implications on the intrinsic source power. We furthermore analyze which γ-ray properties can better constrain the nature of the source, thus helping in the study of objects not yet associated with a reliable low frequency counterpart. Here we report on the instruments and techniques used to identify the optical counterparts of γ-ray sources, we give an overview on the status of our work, and we discuss the implications of a large scale study of γ-ray emitting AGNs.     

Evidence of multiple strain fields beneath the eastern flank of Mt. Etna volcano (Sicily,Italy) deduced from seismic and geodetic data during 2003–2004

We carried out a study of the seismicity and ground deformation occurring on Mt. Etna volcano after the end of the 2002–2003 eruption and before the onset of the 2004–2005 eruption. Data were recorded by the permanent local seismic network run by Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia – Sezione di Catania and by geodetic surveys carried out in July 2003 and July 2004 on the GPS network. Most earthquakes were grouped in two main clusters located in the northeastern and southeastern sectors of the volcano. The areal distribution of seismic energy associated with the recorded earthquakes allowed us to highlight the main seismogenic areas of Mt. Etna. In order to better understand the kinematic processes of the volcano, 3D seismic locations were used to compute fault plane solutions, and a selected dataset was inverted to determine stress and strain tensors. The focal mechanisms in the northeastern sector show clear left-lateral kinematics along an E-W fault plane, consistent with events occurring along the Pernicana Fault system. The fault plane solutions in the southeastern sector show mainly right-lateral kinematics along a NNE and ENE fault plane and left lateral-kinematics along NW fault planes that together suggest roughly E-W oriented compression. Surface ground deformation affecting Mt. Etna measured by GPS surveys highlighted a marked inflation during the same period and exceptionally strong seawards motion of its eastern flank. The 2D geodetic strain tensor distribution was calculated and the results show mainly ENE-WSW extension coupled with WNW-ESE contraction, indicating right-lateral shear along a NW-SE oriented fault plane. The different deformation of the eastern sector of the volcano, as measured by seismicity and ground deformation, must be interpreted by considering the different depths of the two signals. Seismic activity in the southeastern sector of volcano is located between 3 and 8 km b.s.l. and can be associated with a very strong additional E-W compression induced by a pressurizing source just westwards and at the same depth, located by inverting GPS data. Ground deformation, in contrast, is mainly affected by the shallower dynamics of the fast moving eastern flank which produces a shallower opposing E-W extension. The entire dataset shows that two different processes affect the eastern flank at the same time but at different depths; the boundary is clearly located at a depth of 3 km b.s.l. and could represent the décollement surface for the mobile flank.