Vincenzo Pasquale

Università degli Studi di Genova | UNIGE

This chapter introduces the composition and the basic physical features, namely seismic wave velocity and discontinuities, density and elastic properties, of the lithosphere and underlying asthenosphere . It is shown how the lithospheric thickness can be inferred from the elevation of the Earth’s surface in regions in isostatic equilibrium. The fun...

The ground surface temperature, the geothermal flow and the rock radiogenic heat provide evidence of the heat transfer processes and allow the determination of the thermal structure of the lithosphere. This chapter describes the fluctuation in the subsurface temperature, caused by ground surface temperature variations, and the main heat sources of...

Subsurface temperature field forms an independent archive of past climate changes that is complementary to both the surface air temperature observations and the traditional climate proxy data, each with particular strengths and limitations. In this chapter, we focus on the contribution of temperature measurements in deep boreholes to the inference...

Physical and chemical instabilities in the Earth’s interior may cause the formation of magma, phenomenon which consequently creates a mechanical disequilibrium with the surrounding rocks. The magmatic fluid attempts to find an equilibrium condition through energy and mass transfer from the bottom upwards. The volcanic activity is therefore the surf...

The presence of groundwater flow implies other heat transfer mechanisms rather than pure conduction. Several strategies have been developed to explore the heat transport associated with water flow. This chapter presents some analytical methods and shows how flow in a permeable layer can be inferred from the borehole temperature measurements. Heat a...

This chapter presents the basic equations for conductive heat transfer and the main thermal parameters of the rocks, in particular the thermal conductivity and radiogenic heat. Also, it outlines the most commonly used techniques for measuring these parameters. Models involving the application of mixing laws for a mineral aggregate are discussed tog...

This book, now in its second edition, offers a comprehensive and modern treatment on the background knowledge of heat transfer processes in the lithosphere. In the light of the success of the first edition, several chapters of the book have been revised and the book has been enriched with a new chapter on geothermal methods used for the inference o...

Vengono presentati la nebulosa protoplanetaria, il sistema solare, il moto planetario, il sistema terrestre, la geocronologia e la teoria della tettonica globale.

In questo capitolo vengono presentate le relazioni tra tensioni e deformazioni elastiche, la propagazione delle onde sismiche e la struttura interna. Dei terremoti sono esaminati: il meccanismo focale e le scale di valutazione della loro intensità, la classificazione sismica del territorio nazionale e i fenomeni precursori che sembrano costituire u...

In questo capitolo vengono spiegati i meccanismi di deformazione elastica e di frattura, sia sotto l'aspetto tettonico regionale sia in termini di esperienze di laboratorio sui materiali. La flessione degli strati più superficiali è correlata con i carichi superficiali (catene montuose, vulcani, bacini sedimentari) per dedurre alcune proprietà mecc...

Vengono descritti il flusso di calore terrestre, il calore radiogenico e lo stato termico interno, la variazione della temperatura superficiale, il calore quale risorsa energetica rinnovabile e la reologia della litosfera.

In questo capitolo vengono trattati le caratteristiche d’isotropia e di linearità di un mezzo magnetizzato, che sono alla base della definizione stessa delle varie grandezze fisiche proprie del magnetismo, e i processi di magnetizzazione, di acquisizione e di ritenzione della magnetizzazione delle rocce. Seguono l’origine e le variazioni del campo...

In questo capitolo vengono presentate le principali fluttuazioni dell’asse di rotazione terrestre, la gravità e la forma del corpo terrestre, le anomalie di gravità, le condizioni d’equilibrio isostatico della litosfera, le coordinate astronomiche e geografiche e la teoria delle maree.

Viene trattato l’ambiente superficiale terrestre, sede dei processi fisici di scambio, sia al suo interno sia con l’esterno, che ne determinano le caratteristiche fondamentali, tra cui il clima. Si analizzano i caratteri principali dell’acqua marina, le correnti e le forze che influenzano il loro regime, e il moto ondoso. Segue la descrizione della...

Appendici 1 – Superficie di riferimento 2 – Funzioni sferiche 3 – Tensioni da variazioni di temperatura 4 – Richiami di termologia 5 – Termodinamica della convezione 6 – Campo magnetico nel vuoto 7 – Errori di misura 8 – Regressione e correlazione 9 – Relazioni tra i parametri elastici di un corpo isotropo 10 – Parametri fisici e struttur...

This chapter introduces the basic physical features of the lithosphere and underlying asthenosphere, namely body wave velocity, density and elastic properties. It is shown how the lithospheric thickness can be inferred from the elevation of the Earth’s surface in regions in isostatic equilibrium. The fundamentals of plate tectonics, the mechanisms...

This chapter presents the basic equations for conductive heat transfer and the main thermal parameters of the rocks, in particular the thermal conductivity and radiogenic heat. Also, it outlines the most commonly used techniques for estimating these parameters. Models involving the application of mixing laws for a mineral aggregate are discussed to...

The underground temperature, the geothermal flow and the rock radiogenic heat provide evidence of the heat transfer processes and of the thermal state of the lithosphere. Changes in surface temperature can cause fluctuations in the temperature of the uppermost crustal layers. The geothermal flow can be envisaged as a combination of the heat generat...

The presence of groundwater flow implies other heat transfer mechanisms rather than pure conduction. Several strategies have been developed to explore the heat transport associated with water flow. This chapter presents some analytical methods and shows how subsurface temperatures can provide a quantitative tool for inferring water flow in permeabl...

This paper gives an up-to-date overview of the surface heat flow and the geothermal resources of northern Italy on the basis of both already processed data and new pieces of information. Temperature data up to 7240 m depth, derived from exploration oil wells, were processed and thermal conductivity was estimated under any possible condition of dept...

Physical or chemical instabilities in the Earth’s interior may cause the formation of magma, phenomenon which consequently creates a mechanical disequilibrium with the surrounding rocks. The magmatic fluid attempts to find an equilibrium condition through energy and mass transfer from the bottom upwards. The volcanic activity is therefore the surfa...

Time-series of radon concentration and environmental parameters were recently recorded in a uranium mine gallery, located in the Maritime Alps (NW Italy). The mine was bored in metarhyolites and porphyric schists mainly composed by quartz, feldspar, sericite and fluorite. U-bearing minerals are generally concentrated in veins heterogeneously spaced...

Thermal regime Heat and mass transfer Thermal convection Rayleigh number Deep carbonate aquifer Permeability Temperatures recorded in wells as deep as 6 km drilled for hydrocarbon prospecting were used together with geological information to depict the thermal regime of the sedimentary sequence of the eastern sector of the Po Plain. After correctio...

We performed a radiometric survey for evaluating the natural radioactivity and the related potential hazard level both outdoor and indoor a mine tunnel. The mine is located in a zone of uranium enrichment in the Western Alps (Italy). At first, a γ-ray spectrometry survey of the area surrounding the mine was carried out to define the extent of the o...

On the basis of lithostratigraphic data from petroleum wells, geophysical logs and laboratory measurements, we revised surface heat-flow values from previous studies and obtained new data for the western sector of the Po Basin (Italy). The available bottom-hole temperatures were corrected for mud circulation. The in situ thermal conductivity was es...

Italy is one of the most important countries in the world with regard to high-medium enthalpy geothermal resources, a large part of which is already extracted at relatively low cost. High temperatures at shallow to medium depth occur within a wide belt, several hundred kilometre long, west of the Apennines mountain chain. This belt, affected by rec...

Vengono trattati alcuni argomenti di rilievo riguardanti l’origine ed evoluzione, la gravità e la forma della Terra, le condizioni d’equilibrio isostatico della litosfera e la teoria delle maree. Dei terremoti sono esaminati le scale di valutazione della loro intensità, il rischio, la pericolosità e i fenomeni precursori per la loro previsione. Seg...

On the basis of lithostratigraphic data from petroleum wells, geophysical logs and laboratory measurements, we revised surface heat-flow values from previous studies and obtained new data for the western sector of the Po Basin (Italy). The available bottom-hole temperatures were corrected for mud circulation. The in situ thermal conductivity was es...

We present an analysis on thermal properties, density and porosity of clastic, chemical/biochemical and intrasedimentary volcanic rocks collected from petroleum exploration wells of the Po Basin (Northern Italy). Moreover, we investigate the applicability of the Hashin–Shtrikman's model for a mineral aggregate in combination with the Zimmerman's mo...

We review some analytical techniques that use underground thermal data as tracers of groundwater flow. These techniques allow the evaluation of the Darcy velocity in shallow aquifers of mid-low permeability and the evaluation of heat gain/loss by conduction in deeper aquifers. Examples of application are then given for the Acqui Terme hydrothermal...

geothermal resources advective heat hydraulic features flow path water residence time We review some analytical techniques that use underground thermal data as tracers of groundwater flow. These techniques allow the evaluation of the Darcy velocity in shallow aquifers of mid-low permeability and the evaluation of heat gain/loss by conduction in dee...

We propose a geophysical technique for the analysis of underground thermal data, which can help in the study of shallow aquifers with low velocity flows due to hydraulic gradient. The Darcy velocity and quantitative information on the dominant process of heat transport (Péclet number) can be extracted from thermal logs in boreholes. Examples of app...

Due to their ability to travel through the air for several metres, gamma-rays emitted from natural radioactive elements can be successfully used in surveys carried out both with airborne and ground equipments. Besides the concentration of the radio-elements contained in rocks and soils and the intrinsic characteristics of the gamma-ray detector, th...

Several strategies have been developed to explore the circulation of geofluids, which can yield heat transport over large spatial scales. Groundwater flow from recharge areas, where precipitation seeps downwards beneath the ground surface and reaches the saturated zone, to discharge areas, where subsurface water is discharged to streams, lakes, pon...

This paper investigates the seismic cutoff temperature at the maximum depth of seismicity across a young orogenic belt, the northern Apennines, by attempting to take account of the different tectonothermal processes which have occurred in the region since the last 20 Myr. The analysis of seismicity over a period of 20 years (1981-2002) in combinati...

We present the results of measurements of physical properties carried out on mafic lavas from the Mt Melbourne Volcanic Field, useful for interpretation of geophysical surveys designed to shed light on the structure of the crust. The thermal conductivity is comparable to that of glass and shows a clear negative dependence on porosity. The volume he...

1] This paper investigates the seismic cutoff temperature at the maximum depth of seismicity across a young orogenic belt, the northern Apennines, by attempting to take account of the different tectonothermal processes which have occurred in the region since the last 20 Myr. The analysis of seismicity over a period of 20 years (1981–2002) in combin...

Physical parameters of volcanites from Antarctica

We reviewed the calibration procedures of gamma-ray spectrometry with particular emphasis to factors that affect accuracy, detection limits and background radiation in field measurements for dosimetric and radon potential mapping. Gamma-ray spectra were acquired in western Liguria (Italy). The energy windows investigated are centred on the photopea...

The growing interest on renewable energy sources is stimulating new efforts aimed at the assessment of geothermal potential in several countries, and new developments are expected in the near future. In this framework, a basic step forward is to focus geothermal investigations on geological environments which so far have been relatively neglected....

We have analyzed a wide set of time-temperature data from petroleum wells in two areas of the Po Plain, Italy, and propose empirical temperature corrections for mud circulation. Formation thermal parameters and the temperature dependence of thermal conductivity are taken into account. Analyses show that formation equilibrium temperatures computed w...

We attempt to remedy the existing deficiency of thermal conductivity data of sedimentary rocks by making a series of measurements in laboratory on several bottom core samples, collected from petroleum explorative wells and representative of the main sedimentary rocks recognized in the western Po Basin, Northern Italy. The in-situ bulk thermal condu...

We present techniques to infer thermo-hydraulic parameters from the analysis of underground temperature data from boreholes. Two different cases are analyzed: thermal data from artesian wells and from boreholes drilled in unconfined aquifers. The former allow the assessment of the formation temperature gradient and the flow volume; the latter give...

We carried out a radiometric survey on a sector of the Lipari island particularly affected by argillification due to hydrothermal processes. Preliminarily, on the basis of a wide set of field measurements over unaltered outcrops, we obtained a reference spatial distribution of U, Th and K. The concentration of these radioelements increases with the...

The bulk thermal conductivity is a key parameter for the development of models of sedimentary basin thermal regimes, because it directly controls the temperature gradient. However, deep core samples are rarely available and there are few laboratory measurements ; therefore indirect reliable procedures are necessary to estimate the thermal parameter...

Aims to simplify the complex nature of the crust of the Ligurian basin by modelling its genesis using uniform extension and sea-floor depth variation with age. Even if the uniform extension model accounts well at a regional level for the present basement depth, a remarkable tectonic subsidence excess has been found in the Alpine-Provencal continent...

A joint analysis of surface air temperature series recorded at meteorological stations and temperature-depth profiles logged in near-by boreholes was performed to estimate conditions existing prior to the beginning of the instrumental record in central-northern Italy. The adopted method considers conductive and advective heat transport in a horizon...

A radiometric survey on a sector of the Lipari volcanic island particularly affected by argillification due to hydrothermal processes was carried out. Preliminarily, on the basis of a wide set of field measurements over unaltered outcrops U and K distribution maps were obtained. The concentration of these radioelements increases with the degree of...

The present-day basement depth of the seafloor in the absence of sediment loading was inferred along a traverse crossing the Southern Tyrrhenian Basin. A correction for sediment loading was proposed on the basis of density, seismic velocity and porosity data from selected deep boreholes. The empirical relation between sediment correction and seismi...

A joint analysis of surface air temperature series recorded at meteorological stations and temperature-depth profiles logged in nearby boreholes was performed to esti-mate conditions existing prior to the beginning of the instru-mental record in central-northern Italy. The adopted method considers conductive and advective heat transport in a lay-er...

The present-day basement depth of the seafloor in the absence of sediment loading was inferred along a traverse crossing the Southern Tyrrhenian Basin. A cor-rection for sediment loading was proposed on the basis of density, seismic velocity and porosity data from selected deep boreholes. The empirical relation between sediment correction and seism...

Several numerical and analytical models have been proposed to depict the dynamics of the Tyrrhenian subduction zone. The inference of the thermal structure is, instead, at an early stage. So far the temperature distribution within the Ionian slab was approach with conductive heating models. The thermal conditions of the subducting lithosphere and t...

The petrophysical properties of sediment drill core samples recovered from the Sardinian margin and the abyssal plain of the Southern Tyrrhenian Basin were used to estimate the downhole change in porosity and rates of deposition and mass accumulation. We calculated how the deposited material has changed its thickness as a function of depth, and cor...

The petrophysical properties of sediment drill core samples recovered from the Sardinian margin and the abyssal plain of the Southern Tyrrhenian Basin were used to estimate the downhole change in porosity and rates of deposition and mass accumulation. We calculated how the deposited material has changed its thickness as a function of depth, and cor...

The basal depth of the outer layer with internal magnetic sources was calculated from magnetic data available within a roughly 500 km wide and 1200 km long area, running from central Germany to southern Italy. The dataset, deriving from different aeromagnetic surveys, is reduced to the reference altitude of 3000 m a.s.l. and a reference year of 198...

The connection between the thermal field and the mechanical properties in the northern sector of the Tyrrhenian–Apennines system is analysed. The thermal setting is the result of three main extensional events, which have taken place within relatively small space and time intervals. The oldest tectono-thermal event took place in eastern Corsica 14 M...

Underground temperature data from height boreholes logged between 1981 and 2000 were studied to infer the climate change in central-northern Italy during the last 250 years. The ground surface temperature history was reconstructed by using the functional space inversion method. A different inverse approach was also used for two temperature sets to...

We propose a thermal model of the subducting Ionian microplate. The slab sinks in an isothermal mantle, and for the boundary conditions we take into account the relation between the maximum depth of seismicity and the thermal parameter Lth of the slab, which is a product of the age of the subducted lithosphere and the vertical component of the conv...

We propose a thermal model of the subducting Ionian microplate. The slab sinks in an isothermal mantle, and for the boundary conditions we take into account the relation between the maximum depth of seismicity and the ''thermal parameter'' L th of the slab, which is a product of the age of the subducted lithosphere and the vertical component of the...

The basal depth of the outer layer with internal magnetic sources was calculated from magnetic data available within a roughly 500 km wide and 1200 km long area, running from central Germany to southern Italy. The dataset, deriving from different aeromagnetic surveys, is reduced to the reference altitude of 3000 m a.s.l. and a reference year of 198...

We evaluate the different components contributing to the surface heat flux of the Sicilian–Calabrian margin in the Tyrrhenian back-arc basin. The stretching factor, estimated from the change in crustal thickness, and the observed surface heat flux reveal a quite regular pattern, increasing from the coastline to the oceanic domain. The average value...

Field gamma-ray spectrometry was used for the quantitative assessment of U, Th and K of rocks of Stromboli, Salina, Filicuidi and Panarea (Aeolian arc of the Southern Tyrrhenian, Italy). The air absorbed dose rate was calculated from radioelement concentrations. For some rocks the gamma-ray spectra were analysed with the three photo-peak methods an...

Radioactive heat production data for volcanic rocks ranging in age from 430 ka to the historical time and cropping out on the three main islands of the Aeolian arc (Southern Italy) are presented. They were derived from uranium, thorium and potassium concentration measured from γ-radiations originating from the decay of 214Bi (238U series), 208Tl (2...

ABSTRACT We propose a thermo-mechanical model and a new interpretation of heat flux data for the Ligurian basin that may be a key to understanding the evolution of the NW Mediterranean. The model incorporates the removal of a portion of mantle lithosphere to explain the heat-flux and subsidence anomaly of the eastern (Corsican) margin of the basin....

Field -ray spectrometry was used for the quantitative assessment of radioactive elements and the expected radon ux of rocks cropping out at the Alps–Apennines transition zone (NW Italy). The spatial variation in radioelement concentration reeects, in general, the geochemical diierences among the analysed rocks. Rocks of the ophiolitic complex clear...

During the last two decades, several attempts have been done in proving a correla- tion between the Earth's tidal gravity residues and heat flux. Controversial questions regarding this correlation are mainly related both to uncertainties in gravimeter cali- brations and in oceanic load corrections of the observed tidal wave, and, on the other hand,...

Since Upper Oligocene times, relatively rapid processes of continental stretching have affected the NW Mediterranean, and generated several extensional basins and troughs. The Corsica-Sardinia Variscan block eastward rotation and drift are major kinematic consequences of this process that has continued with the formation of new crust of oceanic nat...

The temperatures measured in the underground are a powerful tool to study the cli- matic history and the recent warming in areas where directly measured meteorological data are not available. Differently from other proxies, geothermal data contain quanti- tative information about, above all, the signatures of the long-term climatic scenarios, becau...

ABSTRACT We propose a thermo-mechanical model and a new interpretation of heat flux data for the Ligurian basin that may be a key to understanding the evolution of the NW Mediterranean. The model incorporates the removal of a portion of mantle lithosphere to explain the heat-flux and subsidence anomaly of the eastern (Corsican) margin of the basin....

Field -ray spectrometry was used for the quantitative assessment of radioactive elements and the expected radon of rocks cropping out at the Alps–Apennines transition zone (NW Italy). The spatial variation in radioelement concentration reeects, in general, the geochemical diierences among the analysed rocks. Rocks of the ophiolitic complex clearly...