Sergio Calabrese

• Professor
• Professor (Associate) at University of Palermo

Deciphering deep magmatic processes driving the onset of continental break-up is fundamental to constrain our understanding of plate tectonics. The East African Rift System (EARS) is the only currently active system on Earth to study distinct stages of rift evolution. We present a coupled analysis of melt and fluid inclusions in the Virunga Volcani...

The Caviahue-Copahue Volcanic Complex is one of the most studied active volcanic systems in the South American Andean range, and yet little research has focused on trace and rare-earth elements of waters, especially during an eruptive cycle. In this study, we sampled and investigated natural waters from 23 sites (involving the crater lake, hot spri...

Karst hydrosystems represent one of the largest global drinking water resources, but they are extremely vulnerable to pollution. Climate change, high population density, intensive industrial, and agricultural activities are the principal causes of deterioration, both in terms of quality and quantity, of these resources. Samples from 172 natural kar...

The assessment, protection, and improvement of air, water and soil quality are of major concern in modern times. Significant amounts of pollutants are released from both anthropogenic activities and natural contexts and have a strong impact on both environment and human systems. They are able to be absorbed and metabolized by gas, water, and soil m...

Nyiragongo is an active intraplate volcano well known for its fascinating persistent lava lake inside the crater and is recognized as one of the most dangerous volcanoes in the world as more than two million people live on its slopes, 18-25 km far from the main crater. It is located in the Virunga Volcanic Province (VVP), in the western branch of t...

Active volcanoes are a continuous threat for several regions worldwide and cause socio-economic and environmental issues, including the Virunga Volcanic Province (D.R. Congo). There, more than 2 million people are permanently exposed to the hazards of the most active volcanoes in Africa: Nyiragongo and Nyamulagira. However, there is a clear lack of...

Keywords: Drinking waters, edible plants, volcanic emissions, trace metals, Nyiragongo and Nyamulagira. Volcanic activity emits large amounts of gases and particles to the atmosphere subsequently spreading contaminants to rain, surface waters and soils, negatively impacting on the environment and the human health. The recent eruption of Nyiragongo...

The benign fuming activity of dormant volcanoes is punctuated by phases of escalating degassing activity that, on some occasions, ultimately prelude to eruption. However, understanding the drivers of such unrest is complicated by complex interplay between magmatic and hydrothermal processes. Some of the most comprehensively characterised degassing...

Nyiragongo and Nyamulagira. Active volcanoes are continuously threatening several regions worldwide and cause important health and environmental effects. The Virunga Volcanic Province (VVP, DR. Congo) is one of such provinces. There, data scarcity related to vulnerability and resilience face to volcanic hazards contrasts to the fact that more than...

El presente trabajo fue desarrollado en el Complejo Volcánico Planchón-Peteroa en la provincia de Mendoza, Argentina. Su objetivo es analizar y describir los principales procesos geoquímicos que se desarrollan y controlan la composición de las aguas pertenecientes al sistema hídrico del complejo volcánico. Dichas aguas fueron clasificadas a partir...

An integrated approach using chemical and microbial indicators has been tested in two different sites of the Campania Plain (Southern Italy) with different land use covering and different hydrogeological features in order: (1) to define the water-rock interaction processes, (2) to differentiate sources of pollution in a detailed way (3) to evaluate...

Geothermal areas of Greece are located in regions affected by recent volcanism and in continental basins characterised by elevated heat flow. Many of them are found along the coast, and thus, water is often saline due to marine intrusion. In the current study, we present about 300 unpublished and literature data from thermal and cold mineral waters...

The development of a resilient society is a major challenge for growing human population faced with abundant natural hazards. During and after the May 22, 2021 eruption of Nyiragongo, the local population was surprised and scared by the subsequent seismicity and associated surface fracturing, coupled with the alert of a possible new eruptive vent o...

The origin of magmatic fluids along the East African Rift System (EARS) is a long-lived field of debate in the scientific community. Here, we investigate the chemical composition of the volcanic gas plume and fumaroles at Nyiragongo and Nyamulagira (Democratic Republic of Congo), the only two currently erupting volcanoes set on the Western Branch o...

The concepts of CO2 emission, global warming, climate change, and their environmental impacts are of utmost importance for the understanding and protection of the ecosystems. Among the natural sources of gases into the atmosphere, the contribution of geogenic sources plays a crucial role. However, while subaerial emissions are widely studied, subma...

Volcanic lakes pose specific hazards inherent to the presence of water: phreatic and phreatomagmatic eruptions, lahars, limnic gas bursts and dispersion of brines in the hydrological network. Here we introduce the updated, interactive and open-access database for African volcanic lakes, country by country. The previous database VOLADA (VOlcanic LAk...

We report on original geochemical data, which combine the rainfall trace metal contents from three different areas of Mt. Etna, variably fumigated by the volcanic plume, and those from soils, collected over the whole volcano. Trace element contents in rainfall appear mostly related to acidic ash leaching, while only for the most volatile elements (...

Samples of efflorescences and encrustations of hydrothermal origin were collected at Sousaki (Greece) and analysed for their mineralogical (XRD) and chemical composition. Solutions obtained both from mineralization with HNO 3 and from leaching with deionised water were analysed for major (ICP-OES), minor and trace metals (ICP-MS) and sulfate conten...

We report on original geochemical data, which combine the rainfall trace metal contents from three different areas of Mt. Etna, variably fumigated by the volcanic plume, and those from soils, collected over the whole volcano. Trace element contents in rainfall appear mostly related to acidic ash leaching, while only for the most volatile elements (...

Greece is a region characterised by intense geodynamic activity that favours the circulation of hydrothermal fluids in the crust transporting volatiles from either the deep crust or the mantle to the surface. Elevated heat flow values are detectable at Sperchios Basin and North Euboea (central Greece), two areas defined by a system of deeply rooted...

The eruption of Mt. Etna 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 SE. The influence of volcanic emissions on atmospheric deposition was clearly detectable at several kilometres from the source. Wet and dry (bulk) depo...

A multidisciplinary field campaign was carried out at Nisyros Island (Greece). Hydrothermal gases were sampled and analysed, and CH4 and CO2 fluxes from the soils were measured with the accumulation chamber method. The sampling area (Lakki plain) covers an area of about 0.08 km², and includes the main fumarolic areas of Kaminakia, Stefanos, Ramos,...

Nisyros Island (Greece) is an active volcano hosting a high-enthalpy geothermal system. During June 2013, an extensive survey on Hg concentrations in different matrices (fumarolic fluids, atmosphere, soils, and plants) was carried out at the Lakki Plain, an intracaldera area affected by widespread soil and fumarolic degassing. Concentrations of gas...

Forty-five gas samples have been collected from natural gas manifestations at the island of Kos—the majority of which are found underwater along the southern coast of the island. On land, two anomalous degassing areas have been recognized. These areas are mainly characterized by the lack of vegetation and after long dry periods by the presence of s...

Although trace and ultratrace elements are essential for living beings, they can become toxic at high concentrations and their potential toxicity is related principally to the bioavailability in the environment. Furthermore, the application of some ultratrace elements (rare earth elements, REE) in the high technology has raised their interest as po...

Greece belongs to the most geodynamically active regions of the world and as such it has to be considered an area of intense geogenic degassing. Here we review all the papers already published in the scientific literature on both the geochemistry of gas manifestations and the CO 2 and CH 4 release, in an attempt to obtain the first nationwide inven...

Lake Barombi Mbo (BM) is a maar crater lake (4.1 km 2) located in the Kumba Plain, a volcanic basin in the proximity of Mt Cameroon, Mt Manengouba and the Rumpi Hills, on the Cameroon Volcanic Line. The area is characterised by high rainfall (up to >3500 mm/y) and warm to hot air temperatures (T>26°C). The lake has a round-shaped morphology with an...

Nisyros (Greece) is an active volcano in the eastern part of the South Aegean Active Volcanic Arc (SAAVA), hosting a high-enthalpy geothermal system. On June 2013, an extensive survey on Hg concentrations in different types of matrices (fumarolic fluids, atmosphere, soils and plants) was carried out at Lakki plain, an area affected by widespread so...

Twenty gas samples have been collected from the natural gas manifestations of Milos Island, the majority of which is found underwater along its coast. Furthermore, three anomalous degassing fumarolic areas (Kalamos, Paleochori and Adamas) have been recognized on-land. Almost all the gases are CO2-dominated with CO2 ranging from 88 to 99% vol for th...

Biomonitoring techniques have been widely used in environmental studies to monitor anthropogenic pollutants. Recently such techniques have been also applied to ascertain the impact of contaminants naturally released by volcanic activity (Calabrese et al., 2015; Arndt et al., 2017). In the present study a biomonitoring survey has been performed in d...

Greece, a country characterised by intense seismic and volcanic activity, has a complex geodynamic and geological setting that favours the occurrence of many gas manifestations. In this study, we address the origin of CH4 and light hydrocarbons in cold and thermal emissions discharging along the Hellenic territory. Also, we investigate their possib...

Very little is known about the volatile element makeup of the gaseous emissions of Nyamulagira volcano. This paper tries to fill this gap by reporting the first gas composition measurements of Nyamulagira’s volcanic plume since the onset of its lava lake activity at the end of 2014. Two field surveys were carried out on 1 November 2014, and 13–15 O...

The geologic emissions of greenhouse gases (CO 2 and CH 4) give an important natural contribution to the global carbon budget. However, the contribution of these emissions to the global carbon cycle and their possible role on the climate change remain still poorly quantified (Guliyev and Feizullayev, 1997; Milkov, 2000; Etiope et al., 2015 and refe...

The chemical composition of single rainfall events was investigated at Nyiragongo volcano (Democratic Republic of Congo) with the aim of determining the relative contributions of plume-derived elements. The different locations of the sampling sites allowed both plume-affected samples (hereafter referred to as “fumigated samples”) and samples repres...

In the summer 2013, mercury concentrations in soils and air from Nisyros (Greece), an active volcanic island located in the Aegean Sea, were determined. Up to 102 samples of soil were collected in the Lakki plain caldera and analyzed for mercury by using a cold vapour atomic absorption analyzer, following 7473 US EPA method. Concentrations of mercu...

Greece has a very complex geodynamic setting deriving from a long and complicated geological history being characterized by intense seismic activity and enhanced geothermal gradient. This activity, with the contribution of an active volcanic arc, favours the existence of many gas manifestations. Depending on the prevailing gas species, the latter c...

Hyperalkaline mineral springs related to active continental serpentinization are a theme of growing interest since they may contain significant amounts of abiotic gas and have important implications for energy resource exploration, subsurface microbiology and astrobiology. We report the discovery of a new hyperalkaline (pH∼12) spring issuing in the...

Real-time measurements of GEM and H2S discharged from natural and anthropogenic sources are a valuable tool to investigate the dispersion dynamics of these contaminants in air. In this study, a new approach to measure GEM and H2S concentrations in air, carried out by coupling a portable Zeeman atomic absorption spectrometer with high frequency modu...

The Domuyo volcanic complex (Neuquén Province, Argentina) hosts one of the most promising geothermal systems of Patagonia, giving rise to thermal manifestations discharging hot and Cl⁻-rich fluids. This study reports a complete geochemical dataset of gas and water samples collected in three years (2013, 2014 and 2015) from the main fluid discharges...

In this study, hydrogen sulfide (H2S) measurements in air carried out using (a) passive/diffusive samplers (Radiello® traps) and (b) a high-frequency (60 s) real-time analyzer (Thermo® 450i) were compared in order to evaluate advantages and limitations of the two techniques. Four different sites in urban environments (Florence, Italy) and two volca...

Between June and July 2015 a very deep ERT profile (Pole-Dipole configuration, 40m spacing between electrodes and a remote electrode located at ~10km from the acquisition points) has been performed in the framework of the “MED-SUV” Project. Self-potential (SP), soil gas concentrations (CO2, 222Rn, 220Rn, He, H2 and CH4) and soil temperature (T) mea...

El sistema hidrotermal desarrollado en el Complejo volcánico Copahue-Caviahue está compuesto de una serie de manifesta¬ciones geotermales aledañas al edificio del volcán Copahue, cuyo último ciclo eruptivo comenzó el 22 de diciembre de 2012. En el presente trabajo se dan a conocer nuevos datos correspondientes al muestreo realizado entre noviembre...

Greece has a very complex geodynamic setting deriving from a long and complicat-ed geological history being characterized by intense seismic activity and enhanced geothermal gradient. This activity, with the contribution of an active volcanic arc, favours the existence of many gas manifestations. Depending on the prevailing gas species, the latter...

In the summer 2013, mercury concentrations in soils and air from Nisyros (Greece), an active volcanic island located in the Aegean Sea, were determined. Up to 102 samples of soil were collected in the Lakki plain caldera and analyzed for mercury by using a cold vapour atomic absorption analyzer, following 7473 US EPA method. Concentrations of mercu...

Volcanic emissions represent one of the most relevant natural sources of trace elements to the troposphere. Due to their potential toxicity, they may have important environmental impacts from local to global scale. They can also severely affect the atmospheric and terrestrial environment at timescales ranging from a few to millions of years. Mt. Et...

This study was aimed to test a new methodological approach to carry out measurements of gaseous elemental mercury (GEM) diffusively emitted from soils in hydrothermal-volcanic environments. This method was based on the use of a static closed-chamber (SCC) in combination with a Lumex® RA-915M analyzer that provides GEM measurements in a wide range o...

The hydrothermal system hosted in the Copahue- Caviahue volcanic Complex consists of different geothermal areas around the Copahue volcano, whose last eruptive cycle started on December 22 of 2012. This work presents new data from the samplings of November 2012 and march 2013 in Las Maquinas, Las Maquinitas, villa de Copahue and Chancho-Có areas. T...

We report the first helium isotope survey of volcanic gases, hot springs and some olivine phenocrysts along the Vanuatu island arc, from Tanna in the south to Vanua Lava in the north. Low CO2 content and low He-3/He-4 ratios in thermal fluids of Epi (4.0 +/- 0.1 R-a), Efate (4.5 +/- 0.1 R-a) and Pentecost (5.3 +/- 0.5 R-a) islands coherently indica...

Mercury represents a pollutant of global concern and strong environmental impact since is highly toxic. Hg is present in air in the oxidation states of 0 and +2, the former being the dominant species with a residence time of 1-2 years due to its high volatility, relatively low solubility and chemical inertness. Both volcanic/geothermal and anthropo...

Volcanic and geothermal systems significantly contribute to the input of volatile contaminants, such as mercury and hydrogen sulfide, into the atmosphere. Mercury has a strong environmental impact. In the atmosphere the prevalent elemental form is Hg0 (~98 %), whose main physical-chemical features are: high volatility, low solubility and chemical i...

Here, we report on the first assessment of volatile fluxes from the hyper-acid crater lake hosted within the summit crater of Copahue, a very active volcano on the Argentina-Chile border. Our observations were performed using a variety of in situ and remote sensing techniques during field campaigns in March 2013; when the crater hosted an active fu...

Volcanic and geothermal areas are important emitters of natural gas compounds into the atmosphere, which can be of concern when discharging close to densely, populated sites. Mercury has a strong environmental impact, its organic and inorganic complexes being toxic. The dominant form of Hg in the atmosphere is gaseous elemental mercury (GEM), which...

Since its last magmatic eruption in 1530 AD, La Soufrière andesitic volcano in Guadeloupe has displayed intense hydrothermal activity and six phreatic eruptive crises (the last of which, in 1976-1977, with 73000 evacuees). Here we report on the first direct quantification of gas plume emissions from La Soufrière summit vents, which gradually intens...

Quantification of gaseous emissions in geological systems is an important branch because it is a major source of greenhouse gas to the atmospheric budget. Of geological environments, there are two different categories: the first category includes emissions of the predominant carbon dioxide (CO 2), while the second includes emissions of the predomin...

Intercomparison of gas emissions from the lava lakes of Nyiragongo and Nyamulagira, DR Congo From 25th of October to 5th of November 2014 field surveys were carried out at Nyiragongo and Nyamulagira volcanoes, DR Congo. These two volcanoes belong to the eight volcanoes in the Virunga volcanic chain. They have an altitude of about 3470 m.a.s.l. and...

Environmental impact of volcanic emissions at Nyiragongo (DRC) The large amount of trace elements emitted from volcanoes has a strong impact on the close surrounding areas. Nyiragongo Volcano (Democratic Republic of Congo) belongs to the Virunga volcanic chain and is one of the most active volcanoes in Africa. It is characterized by the presence o...

Mineralogical Assemblages [...]

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div class="page" title="Page 1"> Nisyros Island, Greece, is a stratovolcano known for its intense hydrothermal activity. On June 2013, during a multidisciplinary field campaign, soil samples were collected in the caldera area to determinate the main mineralogical assemblages and to investigate the distribution of trace element concentrations and t...

p>Volcanic Emissions The technique for the assessment of the metal output from volcanoes was based on direct (in- plume) collection of the plume on filter substrates. Gas and aerosols in the volcanic plume have been sampled from the rims of the active craters. [...]</p

div class="page" title="Page 1"> A.1 Analytical Tecniques All soil samples were air dried, thoroughly mixed and split into subsamples for analysis. Particular care was taken using a Riffle-type sample splitter to ensure that representative subsamples were obtained. All analyses were made after sieving the soil samples through a 2-mm sieve and, e...

Session: Atmosphere-Surface Exchangeable Pollutants: Emissions, Environmental Processing, Governance, and Perturbations Related to Global Change I Posters The emission of Hg and H 2 S from natural and anthropogenic sources may have a great environmental impact in urban areas as well as in the surroundings of active and passive degassing volcanoes....

Volcanoes are well known as an impressive large natural source of trace elements into the troposphere. Etna (Italy) and Nyiragongo (D.R. Congo) are two stratovolcanoes located in different geological settings, both characterized by persistent passive degassing from their summit craters. Here, we present some results on trace element composition in...

Nisyros Island, Greece, is a stratovolcano known for its intense hydrothermal activity. On June 2013, during a multidisciplinary field campaign, soil samples were collected in the caldera area to determinate the main mineralogical assemblages and to investigate the distribution of trace element concentrations and the possible relationship to the co...

Bulk deposition has been collected at six sampling sites in area of Gela plain (Italy) in the period from February 2008 to May 2009. Samples collected each two weeks were analysed for the major ion and trace elements content. Preliminary results allow identifying three different sources that control the abundance of the elements in atmospheric depo...

The emission of gaseous contaminants from volcanic and geothermal systems can cause severe concerns for the natural environment and human health, especially in nearby densely populated areas. The Solfatara Crater (Campi Flegrei, Southern Italy) is a hydrothermally altered tuff-cone characterized by intense emission of endogenous fluids from low-to-...

Mercury and its compounds are highly toxic for humans and ecosystems. The dominant form of mercury in the atmosphere is gaseous elemental mercury (Hg0 ~98%), characterized by high stability (residence time 0.5-2 years), low solubility and high volatility. Volcanic and hydrothermal emissions are major natural sources of mercury to the atmosphere. On...

Laboratory exercises, field observations and field trips are fundamental parts of many earth and environmental science courses. In order to integrate theoretical and practical concepts of Earth Sciences, fieldwork plays a key role, representing an opportunity to experiment and evaluate new protocols and techniques which can solve common scientific...