Speaker
Dr
Riccardo PETRINI
(University of Pisa, Italy)
Description
The demand for low-enthalpy thermal waters to be used in balneology, as natural curative resources in Spa treatments, is rapidly increasing across Europe.
However, long-term abstractions of thermal resources should be carefully planned to avoid waters overexploitation and contamination, which may cause changes in the hydrodynamic pressure of the thermal aquifers and in the chemical composition of the abstracted waters. Hence, for a sustainable water management and quality preservation, it is fundamental to enhance the knowledge about the aquifers, in particular when natural springs are replaced by boreholes. In the characterization of thermal water reservoirs, geochemistry is becoming an expanding discipline, providing useful information on the origin of the fluids, the occurrence of mixing processes among different components, the role of water-rock and water-gas interactions, and the flow regimes at depth.
The geothermal manifestations in the Peri-Adriatic Region belong to different hydrofacies, reflecting the different origin and nature of the aquifers in the complex geodynamic and lithological settings that include the Eastern Alps, Southern Alps, Dinarides, Panonian basin and Adriatic – Apulia foreland. These include: (i) thermal waters in Mesozoic carbonate-rock aquifers; (ii) thermal waters in aquifers within the metamorphic basement; (iii) thermal waters in porous media in sedimentary basins and (iv) thermal waters of marine origin in coastal environments.
In the work here described, the geochemistry of thermal waters in the Peri-Adriatic region is summarized, and the application of a multiple geochemical approach to a thermal spring site is reported.
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B. DELLA VEDOVA for R. PETRINI
![B. DELLA VEDOVA][10]
[10]: https://indico.cern.ch/event/263557/picture/45.jpg
Author
Dr
Riccardo PETRINI
(University of Pisa, Italy)