Analyses of TIMS and AVIRIS data, integrated with field and laboratory spectra, for lithological and mineralogical interpretation of Vulcano Island, Italy

Abstract

Vulcano Island is part of the Eolian archipelago, located about 25 km from the northeast coast of Sicily. The archipelago comprises seven major volcanic islands, two of which are active volcanoes (Vulcano and Stromboli). Vulcano covers an area of about 50 square km, and is about 10 km long. Explosive volcanic activity has predominated in the geological evolution of Vulcano Island, and there is no evidence that this pattern has ceased. Rather, the current situation is one of unrest, so a strict regimen of continuous geophysical and geochemical monitoring has been undertaken over the last decade. Though the year-round population of Vulcano is small (under 1000), during the summer the island becomes a very popular resort, and has thousands of additional tourists at any time throughout the high season, thus substantially increasing the number of people potentially at risk from an explosive eruption or other hazards such as noxious gas emissions (e.g., CO2, H2S, SO2). During the past ten years, remote sensing data have been repetitively acquired with optical and microwave airborne sensors. The present work shows the preliminary results of a study based on the integration of various remote sensing data sets with field spectroscopy, and other laboratory analyses, for the geological and geomorphological mapping of the island. It is hoped that such work will also usefully contribute to the evaluation of the volcanic hazard potential of the islands as well as to the evaluation of the status of its current activity