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Geological storage of CO2 is nowadays internationally considered as the most effective method for greenhouse gas emission mitigation, in order to minimize its effects on the global climatology. One of the main options is to store the CO2 in deep saline aquifers at more than 800 m depth, because it achieves its supercritical state. Among the most important aspects concerning the performance assessment of a deep CO2 geological repository is the evaluation of the CO2 leakage rate from the chosen storage geological formation. Therefore, it is absolutely necessary to increase the knowledge on the interaction among CO2, storage and sealing formations, as well as on the flow paths for CO2 and the physico-mechanical resistance of the sealing formation. Furthermore, the quantification of the CO2 leakage rate is essential to evaluate its effects on the environment. One way to achieve this objective is to study of CO2 leakage on natural analogue systems, because they can provide useful information about the natural performance of the CO2, which can be applied to an artificial CO2 geological storage. This work is focused on the retention capacity of the cap-rock by measuring the diffuse soil CO2 flux in a site selected based on: i) the presence of a natural and deep CO2 accumulation; ii) its structural geological characteristics; and iii) the nature of the cap-rocks. This site is located in the so-called Mazarrón-Gañuelas Tertiary Basin, in the Guadalentin Valley, province of Murcia (Spain) Therefore the main objective of this investigation has been to detect the possible leakages of CO2 from a deep saline aquifer to the surface in order to understand the capability of this area as a natural analogue for Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS). The results obtained allow to conclude that the geological sealing formation of the basin seems to be appropriate to avoid CO2 leakages from the storage formation.

Correct management of groundwater resources must be based on the knowledge of their geological-hydrogeological-geochemical framework. As an example from the real world of environmental security issues determined by anthropogenic activities we will consider the strong impact on the quality of the groundwater hosted into the shallow coastal aquifers of the plain of the rivers Cecina and Fine in Tuscany, Italy. This area was recently investigated through a multidisciplinary geological-hydrogeological-geochemical approach in the framework of the Significant Subterranean Water Bodies (SSWBs) Project funded by the Tuscany Region. This study presents the results obtained for the first three considered SSWBs, namely the 32CT010 SSWB - "Coastal acquifer between the Cecina river and San Vincenzo", the 32CT030 SSWB - "Coastal acquifer between the Fine river and Cecina river" and 32CT050 SSWB - "Aquifer of the Cecina valley".

We present a multidisciplinary integrated study performed to get insights into circulation pattern of geothermal fluids uprising in the Equi Terme area (Alpi Apuane, Tuscany). Geological-structural surveys were carried out to define the structural setting of the area and to characterize geometries and kinematics of fault-fracture systems. Chemical and isotopic analyses were carried out on thermal water and cold springs. Samples were repeatedly collected in the different seasons, measuring temperature, electrical conductivity, pH and total alkalinity. Furthermore, a geophysical survey has been carried out in order to get insights into the resistivity distribution at depth. The geophysical approach used MagnetoTelluric (MT) and Electrical Resistivity Tomography (ERT). This multidisciplinary approach proved to be a powerful tool, since it unravels the high complexity of this natural geothermal system and provides useful hints in order to reconstruct the complex fluid circulation

The correct management of subterranean water resources must be based on the knowledge of their geological- hydrogeological-geochemical framework. Stemming from this axiom, the subterranean water resources hosted in the multi-layer aquifers below the coastal plains of the Cecina River, Cornia River, Follonica, Grosseto, and Albegna River were recently investigated through a multidisciplinary approach in the framework of the Significant Subterranean Water Bodies (SSWB) Project funded by the Tuscany Region.

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In conformità con il D.L. 36/2003 è stato stimato il flusso di biogas emesso dall'intero corpo della discarica di Legoli (Peccioli, Pisa), attraverso due campagne di misura del flusso di CO2 e CH4 diffuso dal suolo. Le misure sono state eseguite con il metodo della camera di accumulo nei mesi di maggio 2004 e gennaio 2005. Le quantità totali di CO2 e di CH4 emesse giornalmente in atmosfera, come pure la quantità di biogas persa dal sistema di captazione, sono state stimate attraverso elaborazioni statistiche realizzate a partire dalle misure puntuali di flusso. Utilizzando metodi geostatistici, sono state costruite delle mappe di isoflusso di biogas che hanno permesso di individuare aree di degassamento anomalo presenti sulla copertura. Queste informazioni, oltre ad essere molto utili per la gestione tecnica della discarica, hanno permesso di tarare il modello di produzione. Insieme alla misura dei flussi sono state costruite delle mappe di temperatura superficiale del suolo della discarica, ottenute tramite un radiometro IR, basato su un microbolometro FPA. Queste mappe termografiche sono state confrontate con le carte di isoflusso. L'utilizzo della tecnica termografica è finalizzato ad una valutazione rapida a priori delle dimensioni della maglia di campionamento, una volta comprese le correlazioni fra temperatura del suolo e flusso di biogas.