Ricerc@Sapienza

The Tyrrhenian Sea is characterised by many active features created by fluid escapes from the seafloor, linked to the tectonic evolution of this back-arc basin and the associated Apennine thrust belt. In particular, various CO2 emissions are located in active and quiescent volcanic areas (CampiFlegrei, Ischia, Palinuro Seamount, Pontine, and EolianArchipelagos), only one site with CH4 emissions is reported in the Tyrrhenian Sea at high depths offshore Calabria.
MARENDOGAS project aims to study a recently discovered shallow water site (Scoglio d¿Africa, Tuscan Archipelago) characterized by active CH4 emissions, and to compare it with well-known shallow-water CO2 dominated sites (i.e. Panarea). These sites are similar enough to be compared (shallow-water,climate, easy access for sampling and monitoring, occurrence of Posidonia oceanica meadows) but different enough (CO2 vs CH4, depressed areas versus mounds) to show contrast in geochemistry, mineralogy, sedimentary structures and impact on fauna.
The CO2 emissions have been studied extensively in terms of their impact on chemical and biological systems, and as sites to test monitoring equipment. In particular, the site offshore Panarea Island was studied within the European Community funded CCS project ECO2 (http://www.eco2-project.eu/) and ECCSEL (www.eccsel.org) and was subsequently transformed into an ERIC laboratory. Our long-term goal is to propose the Scoglio d¿Africa site as a natural laboratory, if it will be proved to be appealing enough to deserve it.
In fact, opposite the CO2 sites, knowledge regarding CH4 seeps is very limited, with few sites in shallow water worldwide, thus numerous scientific issues warrant study. These include, but are not restricted to, the origin and the conduits of the leaking CH4 (given that the majority of Tyrrhenian sites leak CO2), the impact of the CH4 on the surrounding ecosystems, and the quantification of the release CH4 (a strong greenhouse gas) directly to the atmosphere.