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CO2 emission in volcanic areas: case histories and hazards

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 February 2010

A. Raschi
Affiliation:
Institute of Environmental Analysis and Remote Sensing for Agriculture, Florence
F. Miglietta
Affiliation:
Institute of Environmental Analysis and Remote Sensing for Agriculture, Florence
R. Tognetti
Affiliation:
Institue of Forest Tree Breeding, Florence
P. van Gardingen
Affiliation:
University of Edinburgh
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Summary

SUMMARY

Carbon dioxide is a significant component of volcanic fiimaroles, and its concentration can vary within large limits in different environments. A high level of hazard can be associated to natural gas emissions, and a concentration of about 30% CO2 in the atmosphere is considered as a life threatening threshold. The oldest historical record of fatalities produced by natural degassing dates back to the Pompeii eruption of Vesuvius (AD 79); more recently, 142 people were killed in 1979 on the Dieng plateau (Indonesia), and gas emissions from volcanic lakes of Cameroon, mainly consisting of CO2, caused 37 victims at Monoun in 1984 and over 1700 fatalities at Nyos in 1986. Significant outputs of carbonic gases can be expected at any active or dormant volcanic system, so that potential hazards from toxic gases are associated to any area of recent or present volcanism. With reference to Italy, two sites appear to deserve our attention when considering hazards connected with gaseous emissions: Phlegrean Fields, NW of Naples, and the island of Vulcano, where civil settlements are located well inside the potentially hazardous areas.

INTRODUCTION

Because of the low solubility of carbon in silicic melts, carbon oxides are preferentially released from magma bodies as the confining pressures decrease: accordingly, any volcanic activity produced by the ascent of magmas from depth is characterized by significant outputs of carbon dioxide, whose stability is much higher with respect to carbon monoxide in all natural conditions.

Type
Chapter
Information
Plant Responses to Elevated CO2
Evidence from Natural Springs
, pp. 34 - 44
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 1997

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