Evaluating the geogenic CO <inf>2</inf> flux from geothermal areas by analysing quaternary travertine masses. New data from western central Italy and review of previous CO <inf>2</inf> flux data

© 2019 Elsevier Ltd Quantification of carbon fluxes between solid Earth and its atmosphere is necessary to understand the global geological carbon cycle. Some of the main CO 2 contributors are metamorphism and magmatic-mantle degassing. CO 2 is discharged from active and quiescent volcanoes, fault zones, geothermal systems and CO 2 rich groundwater. Here a new method for the estimation of the geogenic flux of CO 2 from tectonically active regions, based on the volume, composition and age of travertine deposits, is proposed. The method is applied to the travertine deposits of western Central Italy where travertine deposition is driven by degassing of CO 2 charged groundwater. Results show that the study areas are characterized, since Middle Pleistocene, by diffuse CO 2 degassing processes with time averaged CO 2 fluxes ranging between 1.24 ± 0.12 10 6 mol y −1 km −2 and 1.38 ± 0.42 10 6 mol y −1 km −2 . These values are of the same order of magnitude of carbon dioxide fluxes measured by different methods in western central Italy and are higher than the global baseline CO 2 flux from high heat flow regions. The review of the available 234 U/ 230 Th and 14 C data shows that the CO 2 degassing processes that affects western Central Italy nowadays were already active at least 350 Ka ago, proving that this region is a globally relevant case for the study of Earth degassing. Considering the widespread occurrence of travertine deposits in tectonically active areas worldwide, the proposed approach can be used as a reliable tool to estimate the CO 2 flux in different geodynamic settings within system Earth.status: publishe

Porosity, bulk density and CaCO3 content of travertines. A new dataset from Rapolano, Canino and Tivoli travertines (Italy)

The dataset presented in this article is used in the Quaternary Science Review research article “Evaluating the geogenic CO2 flux from geothermal areas by analysing Quaternary travertine masses. New data from western Central Italy and review of previous CO2 flux data” [1]. The present data article reports the physical properties and new compositional data of 86 travertine samples from Rapolano, Canino and Tivoli travertine deposits (Italy). The dataset include the following parameters: mass, volume, porosity, bulk density, CaCO3 content and insoluble fraction. The dataset is integrated with the photographic documentation of the sampling areas, the location and the stratigraphic position of each sample

Evaluating the geogenic CO2 flux from geothermal areas by analysing quaternary travertine masses. New data from western central Italy and review of previous CO2 flux data

Quantification of carbon fluxes between solid Earth and its atmosphere is necessary to understand the global geological carbon cycle. Some of the main CO2 contributors are metamorphism and magmatic-mantle degassing. CO2 is discharged from active and quiescent volcanoes, fault zones, geothermal systems and CO2 rich groundwater. Here a new method for the estimation of the geogenic flux of CO2 from tectonically active regions, based on the volume, composition and age of travertine deposits, is proposed. The method is applied to the travertine deposits of western Central Italy where travertine deposition is driven by degassing of CO2 charged groundwater. Results show that the study areas are characterized, since Middle Pleistocene, by diffuse CO2 degassing processes with time averaged CO2 fluxes ranging between 1.24 ± 0.12 106 mol y−1 km−2 and 1.38 ± 0.42 106 mol y−1 km−2. These values are of the same order of magnitude of carbon dioxide fluxes measured by different methods in western central Italy and are higher than the global baseline CO2 flux from high heat flow regions. The review of the available 234U/230Th and 14C data shows that the CO2 degassing processes that affects western Central Italy nowadays were already active at least 350 Ka ago, proving that this region is a globally relevant case for the study of Earth degassing. Considering the widespread occurrence of travertine deposits in tectonically active areas worldwide, the proposed approach can be used as a reliable tool to estimate the CO2 flux in different geodynamic settings within system Earth

Genetic determinants of telomere length and risk of pancreatic cancer: A PANDoRA study

Telomere deregulation is a hallmark of cancer. Telomere length measured in lymphocytes (LTL) has been shown to be a risk marker for several cancers. For pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) consensus is lacking whether risk is associated with long or short telomeres. Mendelian randomization approaches have shown that a score built from SNPs associated with LTL could be used as a robust risk marker. We explored this approach in a large scale study within the PANcreatic Disease ReseArch (PANDoRA) consortium. We analyzed 10 SNPs (ZNF676-rs409627, TERT-rs2736100, CTC1-rs3027234, DHX35-rs6028466, PXK-rs6772228, NAF1-rs7675998, ZNF208-rs8105767, OBFC1-rs9420907, ACYP2-rs11125529 and TERC-rs10936599) alone and combined in a LTL genetic score ("teloscore", which explains 2.2% of the telomere variability) in relation to PDAC risk in 2,374 cases and 4,326 controls. We identified several associations with PDAC risk, among which the strongest were with the TERT-rs2736100 SNP (OR = 1.54; 95%CI 1.35-1.76; p = 1.54 x 10(-10)) and a novel one with the NAF1-rs7675998 SNP (OR = 0.80; 95%CI 0.73-0.88; p = 1.87 x 10(-6), p(trend) = 3.27 x 10(-7)). The association of short LTL, measured by the teloscore, with PDAC risk reached genome-wide significance (p = 2.98 x 10(-9) for highest vs. lowest quintile; p = 1.82 x 10(-10) as a continuous variable). In conclusion, we present a novel genome-wide candidate SNP for PDAC risk (TERT-rs2736100), a completely new signal (NAF1-rs7675998) approaching genome-wide significance and we report a strong association between the teloscore and risk of pancreatic cancer, suggesting that telomeres are a potential risk factor for pancreatic cancer

Genetic determinants of telomere length and risk of pancreatic cancer: A PANDoRA study

Telomere deregulation is a hallmark of cancer. Telomere length measured in lymphocytes (LTL) has been shown to be a risk marker for several cancers. For pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) consensus is lacking whether risk is associated with long or short telomeres. Mendelian randomization approaches have shown that a score built from SNPs associated with LTL could be used as a robust risk marker. We explored this approach in a large scale study within the PANcreatic Disease ReseArch (PANDoRA) consortium. We analyzed 10 SNPs (ZNF676-rs409627, TERT-rs2736100, CTC1-rs3027234, DHX35-rs6028466, PXK-rs6772228, NAF1-rs7675998, ZNF208-rs8105767, OBFC1-rs9420907, ACYP2-rs11125529 and TERC-rs10936599) alone and combined in a LTL genetic score ("teloscore", which explains 2.2% of the telomere variability) in relation to PDAC risk in 2,374 cases and 4,326 controls. We identified several associations with PDAC risk, among which the strongest were with the TERT-rs2736100 SNP (OR = 1.54; 95%CI 1.35-1.76; p = 1.54 × 10-10 ) and a novel one with the NAF1-rs7675998 SNP (OR = 0.80; 95%CI 0.73-0.88; p = 1.87 × 10-6 , ptrend = 3.27 × 10-7 ). The association of short LTL, measured by the teloscore, with PDAC risk reached genome-wide significance (p = 2.98 × 10-9 for highest vs. lowest quintile; p = 1.82 × 10-10 as a continuous variable). In conclusion, we present a novel genome-wide candidate SNP for PDAC risk (TERT-rs2736100), a completely new signal (NAF1-rs7675998) approaching genome-wide significance and we report a strong association between the teloscore and risk of pancreatic cancer, suggesting that telomeres are a potential risk factor for pancreatic cancer