No abstract

[1] Numerous soil gas measurements of four gaseous species with very different geochemical behaviors were performed in the Fucino Basin, an area characterized by known and inferred structural discontinuities. A comprehensive statistical and geostatistical treatment of these data followed in order to provide insight into the spatial influence of tectonic discontinuities and geology on deep-seated gas migration toward the surface. The results yielded anomalies with different features, reflecting the different gas-bearing properties of the eastern seismogenic faults related to the 1915 earthquake (M b = 7.0) and the hidden structural features occurring in the western side of the plain. In particular, this approach demonstrates that soil gas concentration (i.e., Rn and CO 2 ) can identify the simpler normal faults of the eastern sector of the plain. In contrast, the more pervasive fracturing and faulting, as well as the occurrence of coarser deposits, on the western side of the area, make the location of faults less clear. The results show that gases migrate preferentially through zones of brittle deformation by advective processes, as suggested by the relatively high rate of migration needed to obtain anomalies of shortlived 222 Rn in the soil pores. Furthermore, a geostatistical study of soil gas data was conducted to quantify the spatial domain of correlation and the gas-bearing properties of faults on the basis of shallow soil gas distribution (i.e., anisotropic behavior). The results provide a clear correlation between the shape and orientation of the anomalies and the different geometry of the faults recognized in the plain.Citation: Ciotoli, G., S. Lombardi, and A. Annunziatellis (2007), Geostatistical analysis of soil gas data in a high seismic intermontane basin: Fucino Plain, central Italy,

No abstract

The RISCS (Research into Impacts and Safety in Carbon Storage) project is investigating potential environmental impacts of CO2 leakage. At ASGARD (Artificial Soil Gassing and Response Detection), a fully-replicated facility for controlled injection of CO2 into soil, investigations have been carried out to determine the effects of elevated soil CO2 on crops, soil microbiology, soil flux and soil CO2 concentration

Two airborne remote sensing flights were conducted above a geothermal field in central Italy (the Latera caldera) where deep, naturally-produced CO 2 is migrating to surface along faults and leaking to the atmosphere at spatially-restricted gas vents. The goal of these surveys was to understand if it is possible to locate CO 2 leaking from a CO 2 geological storage site through the application of indirect remote sensing methods that primarily measure plant stress and subsequent ground-based verification using near-surface gas geochemistry techniques. The overall success rate obtained by integrating six different datasets was 39%, although some individual techniques, such as one NDVI survey, achieved a 47% success rate. While the work did discover some vents that were previously unknown, it also failed to locate 5 vents that are known to exist and, perhaps, other unknown vents. Future work will focus on understanding the various causes of false positives, automation of preliminary data interpretation, and the direct hyperspectral measurement of atmospheric CO 2 produced by these natural seeps.