Skip to content

The geothermal systems of Lipari and Salina islands (Aeolian Islands, southern Italy): a preliminary geochemical and geophysical perspective within the IRGIE project

Jacopo Cabassi 1,2, Matteo Lelli1,2, Carmine Apollaro3, Giovanni Vespasiano3, Franco Tassi1,2,4, Orlando Vaselli1,2,4, Francesco Capecchiacci1,2,4, Federica Meloni1,4, Francesca Zorzi4, Daniele Cinti2, Lorenzo Brusca2, Barbara Nisi1, Claudio De Paola2, Roberto Isaia2, Monica Sposato2, Antonio Troiano2, Maria Giulia Di Giuseppe2, Giovannella Pecoraino2, Barbara Cantucci2 & Monia Procesi2

  • Affiliations: 1Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR), Istituto di Geoscienze e Georisorse (IGG), Italy; 2Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV), Italy; 3Università della Calabria, Dipartimento di Biologia, Ecologia e Scienze della Terra, Rende, Italy; 4Università degli Studi di Firenze, Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Firenze, Italy

  • Presentation type: Poster

  • Presentation time: Tuesday 16:30 - 18:30, Room Poster Hall

  • Poster Board Number: 6

  • Programme No: 5.1.12

  • Theme 5 > Session 1

Abstract

Assessing the potential and possible exploitation of geothermal resources is an essential step in a global climate change scenario that demands a transition to renewable resources. This could enable the energy autonomy in those remote areas, such as the small volcanic islands of the Aeolian archipelago (southern Italy), which are currently dependent on fossil fuels. This is the main topic of the IRGIE project, which aims to provide an inventory of the geothermal resources of the Aeolian Islands. In this study, the results of geochemical and geophysical surveys carried out at Lipari and Salina islands are presented. Lipari Island, where 24 water and gas samples were collected, shows a widespread thermal anomaly, with thermal springs (temperature up to 60 °C), fumarolic activity (over 90 °C) and gaseous emissions on the western part, and with several wells with temperature between 23 and 49 °C on the eastern part. The water samples show different compositions produced by multiple geochemical processes, such as water-rock interaction, seawater contribution, input of CO2-rich fluids and steam heating. At Salina Island, where 6 wells and 2 gaseous emissions were sampled, the waters instead display temperature up to 27.8 °C on the northern part. The upcoming completion of the electromagnetic geophysical surveys on both islands, to be integrated with the geochemical data, will make it possible to identify the areas of greatest permeability and fracturing (likely the western side of Lipari) and to develop and realize conceptual models of geothermal circulation.