Chromatographic analyses of fumarolic gases, collected in sampling bottles containing an alkaline solution, have been carried out using a thermal conductivity detector and a flame ionization detector, after catalytic conversion of CO and CH4. The latter method enables the concentration of carbon monoxide to be measured with sufficient accuracy for use in a CO-CO2-H2-H2O geothermometer. Application of this geothermometer to fumaroles in the crater of Solfatara in the Campi Flegrei, Italy, indicates that they are fed from a steam reservoir at 250±15 °C and at 10-36±2atm of oxygen. On the other hand, the CH4-CO2-H2-H2O geothermobarometer seems to re-equilibrate at superficial temperatures and cannot be used for infering thermodynamic conditions at depth. Regular sampling of these fumaroles together with a geothermometric interpretation of the gas analyses provides a means of monitoring, with comparative accuracy, the chemical and thermal evolution of the hydrothermal reservoir below the Solfatara crater. Such monitoring would probably detect an increase in temperature at depth and the injection of magmatic gas into the reservoir. © 1987 Springer-Verlag.
The determination of deep temperatures by means of the CO-CO2-H2-H2O geothermometer: an example using fumaroles in the Campi Flegrei, Italy
TEDESCO, Dario
1987
Abstract
Chromatographic analyses of fumarolic gases, collected in sampling bottles containing an alkaline solution, have been carried out using a thermal conductivity detector and a flame ionization detector, after catalytic conversion of CO and CH4. The latter method enables the concentration of carbon monoxide to be measured with sufficient accuracy for use in a CO-CO2-H2-H2O geothermometer. Application of this geothermometer to fumaroles in the crater of Solfatara in the Campi Flegrei, Italy, indicates that they are fed from a steam reservoir at 250±15 °C and at 10-36±2atm of oxygen. On the other hand, the CH4-CO2-H2-H2O geothermobarometer seems to re-equilibrate at superficial temperatures and cannot be used for infering thermodynamic conditions at depth. Regular sampling of these fumaroles together with a geothermometric interpretation of the gas analyses provides a means of monitoring, with comparative accuracy, the chemical and thermal evolution of the hydrothermal reservoir below the Solfatara crater. Such monitoring would probably detect an increase in temperature at depth and the injection of magmatic gas into the reservoir. © 1987 Springer-Verlag.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
