Abstract
The low temperature realm such as the geothermal systems, characterized by a large variety of near-Earth surface processes, has been the object of several isotopic studies, some of them including lithium isotopes. However, much work can still be done to systematically use lithium as tracer of geochemical processes in deep and shallow Earth reservoirs. A pilot study has been performed for the determination of lithium-isotope ratio by thermal ionization mass spectrometry (TIMS), a technique poorly employed with respect to other methods such as inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry, being more time consuming. Lithium has been extracted by chromatographic techniques on columns through an ion exchange process from both natural and reference samples. The isotope composition (6Li/7Li) expressed in terms of δ7Li has been determined in dynamic and static mode for comparative purposes, by using two different types of thermal ionization mass spectrometers. The results presented in this work agree with the data reported in the literature, opening a new perspective to future research on continental geothermal systems and groundwater domains, spread over the entire Italian peninsula. This research is based on the use of chemical and isotopic data, whereas it does not include lithium isotopes. These latter may provide a huge contribution in studying both volcanic products and fluids from active volcanic areas, including the superposed geothermal systems, and may represent a new tool for research and surveillance.
Highlights
Geochemical and isotopic data represent a useful tool for understanding how the Earth system works and solving several geological issues
In order to extract lithium and measure its isotope composition in volcanic products and groundwater, during the period from the 2017 and the beginning of the 2018, we set up the procedure to be used in the clean laboratory of the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV), Sezione Osservatorio Vesuviano (OV) and in two Thermal Ionization Mass Spectrometry laboratories
Lithium isotopes were measured on melt inclusions in olivine and on juvenile glassy fragments of ashes erupted at Stromboli volcano to track magma processes and provide evidence about volatile exsolution, separation from the melt and outgassing, diffusion and possible alteration or interaction with hot fluids after the emplacement [22,23]
Summary
Geochemical and isotopic data represent a useful tool for understanding how the Earth system works and solving several geological issues. The combination of data relative to major and trace elements, radiogenic (e.g., Sr, Nd, Pb) and stable (e.g., H, O, B) isotope compositions, allows distinguishing the effects of different processes when dealing with environmental and volcanological studies and provides important clues on Earth’s genesis, magma reservoirs and their dynamics. Arfvedson discovered lithium as an elemental species in 1817 [1]. Lithium (Li) has two naturally occurring stable isotopes: 6 Li and 7 Li. Lithium (Li) has two naturally occurring stable isotopes: 6 Li and 7 Li Their atomic abundances in natural sources are approximately
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