Abstract
The Santa Ninfa Cave (SNC) develops in an outcrop of Messinian gypsum, located in the heart of the zone struck by the 1968 seismic sequence of the Belice valley. It is composed of different levels of sub-horizontal galleries, the lowest of which is characterized by perennial flowing water, running along the water table. From the hydrogeological point of view, it configures as an open circuit, both inflowing and outflowing from/to neighboring aquifers. The geochemical facies of groundwater collected in the SNC is compatible with a meteoric recharge chemically interacting with evaporitic deposits. The most relevant geochemical feature is the mixing between a small tributary of sulfur water with the main stream flowing in the lowest passage. The mixing between groundwater of different origin, flowing in aquifers with different permeability, can give rise to geochemical transients linked to seismogenic processes. Under this light, SNC could be of potential interest in the framework of a monitoring system of neo-tectonic activity in southwestern Sicily.
Highlights
The Belice Valley, located in Western Sicily, was considered seismically quiescent until the 1968 seismic sequence [Barreca et al, 2014]
It is characterized by the presence of a large number of caves, whose genesis and evolution is strongly controlled by tectonics [Madonia et al, 2017]
The most developed of these caves is known as Santa Ninfa Cave, hereafter referred as SNC (Figure2), located few kilometers NE of the city of Santa Ninfa and composed of multi‒level galleries, the lowest of which is an active hydrogeological tunnel interconnected with the basal groundwater body
Summary
The Belice Valley, located in Western Sicily, was considered seismically quiescent until the 1968 seismic sequence [Barreca et al, 2014]. Favara et al [2001] studied thermal springs in this area, including the site of Terme Acqua Pia (close to Montevago, Figure1), finding anomalies of temperature and concentration of dissolved ions in connection with the 1968 seismic sequence. These promising, preliminary results highlight the importance of investigating the relationship between geochemistry of groundwater and neotectonics, looking for possible indicators of seismogenic processes.
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