Some current and past research topics:
- Mt. Amiata Project: Genesis of the hot spring (Hg-Sb) ore deposits of the Mt. Amiata geothermal system (Parco Nazionale Museo delle Miniere del M.te Amiata)
- The Fe-skarn deposits of the Island of Elba
- UNESCO-IGCP project No. 540: "Composition of hydrothermal
fluids of orogenic gold deposits from state-of-the-art fluid
inclusion microanalysis, and applications to mineral
exploration"
- The fluids of hypogenic caves
My research interests concern the role of geofluids in the transfer
of mass within the Earth's crust. Geofluids are aqueous solutions
containing electrolytes and gases, and their flow occurs during a
large varieties of geological processes, like for example those
that generate mineral deposits, geothermal systems and hypogenic
caves .
I evaluate geological models of fluid flow using:
1. Field geology
2. The properties of geofluids from fluid inclusion studies
(microthermometry; Laser Ablation-ICP-MS)
3. Whole rock geochemistry and mineral chemistry (XRF; ICP-MS,
EMPA)
4. Geochemical modeling (mass transfer calculations; fluid-mineral
equilibria)
