Anomalous Discharge of Endogenous Gas at Lavinio (Rome, Italy) and the Lethal Accident of 5 September 2011

Autor: Alessandro Gattuso, Massimo Ranaldi, Franco Barberi, Tullio Ricci, M. L. Carapezza, Luca Tarchini
Rok vydání: 2019
Předmět:
Injury control
Epidemiology
Accident prevention
lcsh:Environmental protection
Health
Toxicology and Mutagenesis
General or Miscellaneous
Volcanology
Poison control
Lavinio
Rome
Italy
Management
Monitoring
Policy and Law
Volcano Monitoring
Tsunamis and Storm Surges
Volcanic Hazards and Risks
Co2 concentration
lethal gas accident
lcsh:TD169-171.8
Instruments and Techniques
hazard from endogenous gas emission
Waste Management and Disposal
Seismology
Research Articles
Water Science and Technology
Hydrology
High concentration
Global and Planetary Change
Geological
Effusive Volcanism
Radiogenic Isotope Geochemistry
Public Health
Environmental and Occupational Health
Oxygen deficiency
Avalanches
Volcano Seismology
Pollution
Mud Volcanism
Volcanic Gases
Geochemistry
Earthquake Ground Motions and Engineering Seismology
Explosive Volcanism
First person
Environmental science
Cryosphere
Natural Hazards
Oceanography: Physical
Research Article
Zdroj: GeoHealth
GeoHealth, Vol 3, Iss 12, Pp 407-422 (2019)
ISSN: 2471-1403
Popis: The Rome region contains several sites where endogenous gas is brought to the surface through deep reaching faults, creating locally hazardous conditions for people and animals. Lavinio is a touristic borough of Anzio (Rome Capital Metropolitan City) that hosts a country club with a swimming pool and an adjacent basement balance tank. In early September 2011, the pool and the tank had been emptied for cleaning. On 5 September, four men descended into the tank and immediately lost consciousness. On 12 August 2012, after a long coma the first person died, the second one reported permanent damage to his central nervous system, and the other two men recovered completely. Detailed geochemical investigations show that the site is affected by a huge release of endogenous gas (CO2 ≈ 96 vol.% and H2S ≈ 4 vol.%). High soil CO2 and H2S flux values were measured near the pool (up to 898 and 7.155 g·m−2·day−1, respectively), and a high CO2 concentration (23–25 vol.%) was found at 50–70 cm depth in the soil. We were able to demonstrate that gas had been transported into the balance tank from the swimming pool through two hubs connected to the lateral overflow channels of the pool. We show also that the time before the accident (60 hr), during which the balance tank had remained closed to external air, had been largely sufficient to reach indoor nearly lethal conditions (oxygen deficiency and high concentration of both CO2 and H2S).
Key Points In volcanic and geothermal areas, the emission of deep gas locally creates hazardous conditions for people and animals, as at LavinioLavinio country club hosts a swimming pool with a basement tank, where an accident occurred on 5 September 2011 causing the death of a manGeochemical studies show that the man inhaled a nearly lethal CO2‐H2S‐rich air mixture, transported from the pool into the basement tank
Databáze: OpenAIRE
Externí odkaz: