INGV august

In august I went back to INGV to analyze some water sample. During my stay I had the privileged to meet other geochemists from Japan and from Italy.

  From left to right: Dr. Dario Tedesco, Dr. Giancarlo Ciotoli

At Tisovita

In summer I went my coordinator (prof. Dr. Calin Baciu) to the area of Tisovita to investigate methane emissions, springs and to collect rock samples. 

 A beatiful panorama of the Transalpina road across the Carpathians.

Behind me the beautiful landscape of the Carpathian Mountains.

One of the investigated spring in the area...

 Measuring gas emission on an remote excavation.

An excavation near the roadside.

Coming down from the cliff side with the flux meter on my back.

Field campaing in Moldova area

In the summer of 2013 together with Cristian Pop went on another 2 week long field trip to Moldova, to investigate mud volcanoes.

But we had a bad start...

 On the field with my colleague.

 Thinking about the next step...

 At about 2-3 km from the Prut river, I tried to locate the area where the presumed mud volcano is, according to the locals.

 Making soil gas measurements on an farm land.

 My colleague and our coordinator professor discussing the areas to investigate.

 Trying to figure out what these holes are...

 Trying to see them far more closer.:)

 A resting a few minutes to gather up energy to continue the field work.

 Atop of a mud volcano situated a corn field.

 On the way home at the Tihuta pass. 

    Going home tired from the field work.

Field work at Baile Herculane

After a few days from the 2 week long field work in the southern part of Romania, we went to Baile Herculane to sample water sample to see if they contain dissolved gases. It is the area the waters are geothermal and sulfurous.

Our first stop was the Despicatura cave below one of the hotels. (The sign is written the following: Do not enter in the cave! Danger of suffocation and thermal shock.) As good researchers we entered the cave.:)
   

 At another thermal spring I tried to measure the gas fluxes from the spring itself.

 Collecting samples for analyses.

 Entering a smaller cave to sample the spring water.

I hope the results will be interesting! :)

Field work in Oltenia - Muntenia

In the summer of 2013 me with the help of my colleague (Cristian Pop), went for a 2 weeks long field campaign in the Romanian regions of Oltenia and Muntenia to investigate or to find mud volcanoes and springs with high methane concentrations. 

We started with the most western part of our proposed field work and continued east.

 Our first stop was at Baile Sacelu. Here we managed to measure the CO2 and CH4 

flux of one of the springs.

 Our second find was the mud volcano of Alimpesti.

Decontaminating the fluxmeter.

The road were quite tricky sometimes :)

 Trying to measure some gas flux from a spring from Baile Govora.

 Preparing syringes for gas sampling from the water.

 Measuring the methane flux from an old drilling.

 Going to sample water from the "miraculous water's" from Valcele.

 Sampling from the sulfur springs from Sarata-Monteoru...

 ...sometimes not so easy:)

  Sampling water from an other spring, also from Sarata-Monteoru.

On the way home we went to the investigate the mud volcano and the bubbling craters Tauni (located almost in the middle of Transylvania).

 Measuring the flux from the mud volcanoes crater.

 Preparing to make the measurements at one of the bubbling craters from Tauni.

 A close up of the bubbling pool...

 The final photo of the field campaign with two happy researchers.

"Training" at Solforata seepage area

During my stay in Rome in April, along side my supervisor we trained two students from the Napoli university, on how to perform the flux measurements.  My supervisor picked an ideal spot: the CO2 seepage area, known as Solforata. It is located close to Rome, very close to the ancient volcanoes of Rome. 

A huge bubbles filled with gas bubbling...

The "team"

 Measuring on soil, or better said on land.

 ...and above water

 My supervisor explaining to the students, while I help measuring.

Trying to get closer to the bubbles.:)

Third internship to INGV

My third internship was from February 2013 until the end of April 2013.
During this time I continued my work from the previous internship and also work on my PhD thesis.

  During the first week at INGV I had the privileged to meet PhD. Adriano Mazzini from Oslo University.

 

I also where lucky to be able to see a SEM (Scanning Electron Microscope). And was also able to see how a SEM works, and also learned how to prepare the samples for it. All thanks to my supervisior and to Andreea Cavallo (left).

   I also became good friend with Pierfrancesco "Paco" Burrato, who taught me how to work with GIS, and how to apply that to my thesis.