The geochemical cycle of Tellurium in volcanic environments

• Main Author: MILAZZO, Silvia
• Other Authors: Milazzo, S., PARELLO, Francesco
• Format: Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: Università degli Studi di Palermo
• Subjects: Tellurium; Volcanic environment; Volcanic Aerosol; Atmospheric deposition; Volcanic ash; Plant; Soils; Settore GEO/08 - Geochimica E Vulcanologia; Argentina; Augusta; Etna; Fukushima; San Miguel; Kamchatka
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10447/221114

This research is focused on the geochemistry of Tellurium (Te) in active volcanic environments. To this end concentrations of Te have been measured on different matrices (plume, ashes, soils, atmospheric depositions and plants). Samples were collected from different volcanoes around the world: volcanic aerosols from Etna and Vulcano (Italy), Turrialba (Costa Rica), Myakejima, Asama and Aso (Japan), Mutnovsky and Gorely (Kamchatka, Russia), Copahue (Argentina), Nyamuragira and Nyiragongo (D.R. Congo); atmospheric depositions from Etna and Vulcano (Italy), Nyiragongo (D.R. Congo); ash from Etna (Italy), Copahue (Argentina), San Miguel (El Salvador). Among with plume and rain samples, several leaves of plants from volcanic areas were collected for biomonitoring investigations: Etna, Vulcano and Stromboli (Italy), Nyiragongo (D.R. Congo), Nisyros (Greece), Gorely (Kamchatka), Turrialba (Costarica), Masaya (Nicaragua), Soufriere (Guadalupe); for comparison plant samples were collected also from an industrial area (Augusta, Italy) and a rural forest (Ficuzza, Italy). Samples of soils were also collected from Nisyros (Greece) to better understand the soil-plant distribution. From a literature review, there is a scarcity of data available about Tellurium abundances in the environment, expecialy for volcanic areas. This fact can be ascribed to the scarce use of this element in the past. During the last decades, the use of Te increased considerably due to its importance for electronics and solar photovoltaic manufacturing. Moreover, the recent natural disaster of Fukushima in March 2011 drew attention to the environmental impact of isotope Tellurium-132, produced after the nuclear power plant failure. As consequence, a lot of new studies are focused on Te behaviour in the environment. Regarding Te plume concentrations and fluxes from active volcanoes, only few estimations were reported in previous studies. Sixty-five plume samples were collected and analysed thus significantly increasing the existing worldwide dataset. ...