Assessment of lithogenic radioactivity in the Euganean Hills magmatic district (NE Italy)

Fault Control on a Thermal Anomaly: Conceptual and Numerical Modeling of a Low‐Temperature Geothermal System in the Southern Alps Foreland Basin (NE Italy)

“…High levels of radioactive elements in volcanic rocks of the Euganean Hills and their contributions to the temperature increase in the EuGF were modeled by the radiogenic heat source ( H in equation 5). Representative H values were calculated for the sedimentary, metamorphic, and volcanic lithologies (0.5, 2, and 3 μW/m 3 , respectively) using Uranium, Thorium, and Potassium concentrations and densities of the rocks in Veneto (Faccenda et al, 2007; Germinario et al, 2017; Strati et al, 2015; Tositti et al, 2017). The H values of the sedimentary and metamorphic rocks were applied to rocky sedimentary and pre‐Permian hydrostratigraphic units, respectively.…”

“…Preferential convective water motion induced by fracturing could represent one of the principal processes warming the water. Slightly high regional crustal heat flow (70-80 mW/m 2 ; Pasquale et al, 2014b) and radiogenic magmatic bodies of the Euganean area (Tositti et al, 2017) could act as an extensive source of its heating. The thermal water likely has a residence time of some thousands of years as suggested by 14 C measurements (Boaretto et al, 2003).…”

Terrestrial gamma dose rate mapping (Euganean Hills, Italy): comparison between field measurements and HPGe gamma spectrometric data

“…151 rock samples were collected aiming at covering a sufficiently wide area and sampling the most representative outcropping rock types, thus based on a 'main local lithology' approach. Tositti et al (28) performed gamma spectrometry measurements, statistical and geostatistical analyses on these samples. Here a subset of 46 sampling locations was selected to perform field dose measurements ( Figure 1), and compare them with dose rate calculated from gamma emission measurements of rock samples.…”

“…In 46 out of the 151 locations, where the rock samples had been collected, the ambient dose equivalent rate (ADER) at 1 m from the ground was measured with an Atomtex rate meter, model AT 1117, equipped with a BDKG-05 40 mm × 40 mm NaI scintillator probe. The 46 measurement points are displayed in Figure 1, together with the 151 points where rock samples were collected in (28). The ambient dose rate has several components that have to be assessed for a meaningful comparison with the estimated TG-ADER.…”

“…The first approach is based on in situ measurements of Ambient Dose Equivalent Rates (ADER) using a rate meter equipped with a NaI scintillator probe. The second approach estimates terrestrial gamma dose rate from the U, Th and K concentrations in rock samples collected from the same points where ADERs have been measured (28). A comparison between the two approaches is then discussed, and field measurements used to produce a map of ambient dose equivalent rate for the area investigated.…”