The laboratory is in the Pisa headquarter of the IGG. The laboratory is a center of excellence for advanced research on stable isotopes of hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen.
The Laboratory
The Laboratory of Stable Isotope Geochemistry is a center of excellence for advanced research on the stable isotopes of hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen. Thanks to a cutting-edge technological infrastructure and a multidisciplinary approach, the laboratory develops new analytical methodologies and applies innovative techniques to topics ranging from geology and environmental sciences to biology, archaeology, agronomy, and food science.
Stable Isotope Geochemistry: Exploring Earth System Processes
Stable isotope geochemistry allows us to investigate the natural mechanisms that regulate the Earth System and biogeochemical cycles by exploiting natural variations in isotope ratios. These studies are fundamental for:
- Reconstruct the origin and evolution of Earth's fluids, such as hydrothermal, geothermal, and magmatic, and understand their role in geological processes.
- Increase knowledge of geochemical cycles, with a particular focus on the surface and deep carbon cycle and its evolution in time and space.
- Investigate the interactions between the biosphere and the geosphere, identifying the biotic and abiotic components in the formation and alteration of rocks and soils and in the dynamics of ecosystems.
- Provide crucial data for understanding global change, climate, and environmental processes, both in geological and recent times.
Technological innovation and cutting-edge research
The laboratory has pursued constant technological and scientific evolution, consolidating its commitment to cutting-edge research. Its advanced instrumentation allows for extremely high-resolution isotopic analyses, addressing numerous scientific challenges. In 2022, thanks to the PNRR ITINERIS (Italian Integrated Environmental Research Infrastructures System) project, the laboratory was further strengthened with state-of-the-art instrumentation, establishing itself as one of the largest laboratories for the study of stable isotopes in Italy and Europe. This technological investment has allowed us to further expand our analytical capabilities and support increasingly ambitious research projects.
Nel 2022, grazie al progetto PNRR ITINERIS (Italian Integrated Environmental Research Infrastructures System), il laboratorio si è ulteriormente potenziato con strumentazioni di ultima generazione, affermandosi come uno dei più grandi laboratori per lo studio degli isotopi stabili in Italia e in Europa. Questo investimento tecnologico ha permesso di ampliare ulteriormente le possibilità di analisi e di sostenere progetti di ricerca sempre più ambiziosi.
Open Science and international networks
The lab embraces the principles of Open Science, ensuring that scientific data is FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable). This philosophy of openness and sharing is a cornerstone of our approach to research and contributes to strengthening scientific impact globally.
The laboratory is an integral part of the European EPOS (European Plate Observing System, Link) network, which unites national research infrastructures for solid earth sciences. EPOS promotes international collaboration and innovation to address the most complex scientific challenges.
We are also involved in the ITINERIS project (Link), funded by the European Union, which aims to create an integrated Italian system for the study of environmental processes in the atmosphere, marine environment, terrestrial biosphere, and geosphere. Within the ITINERIS project, the laboratory is particularly committed to contributing to the construction of a Virtual Research Environment (VRE) where, in accordance with the FAIR philosophy, scientific data and metadata produced in the laboratory can be shared.
Instruments
The laboratory's instrumentation allows us to measure the isotopic composition of hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen, and the total content of hydrogen, nitrogen, organic, and inorganic carbon (TN, H, TOC, TIC) in solid, liquid, and gaseous samples.
The laboratory is committed to the development and implementation of new analytical methods to meet growing research challenges requiring improved analytical accuracy and precision.
There are four IRMS mass spectrometers (Thermo Delta XP, Thermo Delta Plus, Finningan MAT Delta Plus, Finningan ThermoQuest Delta Plus) that interface with:
- Laser fluorination line for the determination of 18O/16O ratios of silicate minerals
- asbench II (Finningan) for the automatic determination in CF of the ratios of 18O/16O and 13C/12C of carbonates and of 13C/12C of TDIC
- Gas Chromatograph Trace GC Ultra (Thermo Scientific) for the separation of carbon compounds (CO2, hydrocarbons, biomarkers, etc.) and the determination of 13C and possibly 2H
- TC/EA (Finningan) for 2H e 18O isotopic analysis of solids
- Flash elemental analyzer EA1112HT (Thermo Scientific) for elemental analysis of C, H, N, S, O and C, H, N, O isotopes of solids, liquids and gases (including gases in headspaces)
- Elemental Analyzer (Carlo Erba) for quantitative and isotopic analysis of C, H, N of liquids (oil, wine, fuel oils and gasoline) and solids
- Automatic equilibration line for determining the 18O/16O ratio of water
- Off-line preparation line for the determination of the 18O/16O and 13C/12C ratios of impure carbonates (e.g. calcite, dolomite, magnesite), of rocks with variable carbonate content and of mixed carbonates (with sequential extraction)
The laboratory is also equipped with an instrument (IRIS-Delta Ray from ThermoFischer Scientific) for determining CO2 concentration and its carbon and oxygen isotopic composition using laser technology. The instrument can be transported and used directly at the study sites for continuous analysis.
The diagram below illustrates the different instrumental configurations possible for different analytical and research needs.
Staff and Contacts
The laboratory staff is composed of:
- Dr. Chiara Boschi (Laboratory Manager)
- Dr. Ilaria Baneschi
- Dr. Andrea Rielli
- Dott. Alessandro Bragagni
The laboratory regularly hosts colleagues, associates, and trainees from Italian and foreign universities and research centers.
Contacts:
Phones
- +39 050 621 2315 (Dr. Chiara Boschi)
- +39 050 6212343 (Dr. Ilaria Baneschi)
email:
- chiara.boschi@igg.cnr.it
- ilaria.baneschi@igg.cnr.it
Methods and Applications
The laboratory employs a variety of analytical techniques, depending on the matrix and isotope being analyzed. Specifically, the sample must be properly treated to obtain a gaseous aliquot that can be introduced into the IRMS spectrometer either continuously (continuous flow) or manually (dual inlet).
Solid samples can be ablated (via laser extraction), combusted (via flash oxidation), pyrolyzed (via thermal decomposition), dissolved in acid, or treated with organic solvents. Pure gaseous samples—N2, CO2, H2, CO—are injected as is; otherwise, they are separated cryogenically or by gas chromatography.
Below are some examples of matrices, isotopic analyses, and applied research.
- Matrix: soils/sediments, vegetation, animal tissues, atmospheric and water-dissolved particulate matter
- Isotope ratio: 13C/12C, 15N/14N
- Applications: tracking and apportioning various sources in environmental studies; studies of spatial and temporal variation in present and past environments; carbon dynamics in terrestrial ecosystems; food web studies; paleo-diet studies; plant physiology; studies of biochemical processes.
- Matrix: solid and dissolved carbonates in water (DIC)
- Isotope ratio: 13C/12C, 18O/16O
- Applications: hydrothermal, metamorphic, and geothermal studies on inorganic carbonates in active and fossil systems; paleoclimatic and paleoenvironmental studies; hydrogeological and surface and groundwater dynamics studies (C in DIC); applications to cultural heritage.
- Matrix: silicate minerals and oxides (anhydrous and hydrated)
- Isotope ratio: 2H/1H, 18O/16O
- Applications: petrological, geothermal, and volcanological studies for the reconstruction of the dynamics of mineral genesis and alteration.
- Matrix: dry gases dissolved in water
- Isotope ratio: 13C/12C
- Applications: Volcanological and geothermal studies of CO2 and CH4; studies of biogas production dynamics; tracking of organic molecules; tracking of gas emissions and their reactions.
The laboratory develops new protocols, analytical techniques, and ad hoc applications in response to emerging research topics and challenges.
La tabella seguente riassume i rapporti analizzati per tipologia di matrice, la precisione e le quantità minime richieste. Le aliquote minime analizzabili devono contenere almeno 5-20 micromoli di N e/o 10-200 micromoli di C per una singola analisi. Il materiale disponibile per l’analisi deve essere 5 volte la quantità minima analizzabile, omogenizzato e macinato fine (<150 mm). Fanno eccezione le analisi sui silicati, ossidi e minerali idrati, dove si richiede minerali separati.
Scientific Projects and Interests
Project:
- Progetto ITINERIS 2022-2025 (Next Generation EU PNRR) “Italian Integrated Environmental Research Infrastructures System”
- Progetto NHEAT 2023-2025 (PRIN-PNRR 2022) “Natural Hydrogen for Energy trAnsiTion”
- Progetto STORECO2 2023-2025 (PRIN-PNRR 2022) “Advancing the STORagE of anthropogenic CO2 emissions by understanding natural carbonation systems”
- Progetto Bilaterale CNR Italia-Corea del Sud 2024-2026
- Progetto ICEtoFLUX 2022-2024 (PRA 2021) “HydrologIcal changes in ArctiC Environments and water-driven biogeochemical”
- Progetto Abreso Belmont Forum 2021-2024 “ABandonment and REbound: SOcietal views on landscape- and land-use change and their impacts on water and soils”
- Progetto GECO 2018-2023 (Horizon 2020) “Geothermal Emission Gas Control”
- Progetto Ecopotential 2015-2019 (HORIZON 2020) “Improving future Ecosystem Benefits through earth observations”
- IODP EXPEDITION 357 “Atlantis Massif Serpentinization and Life”
- Progetto DESCRAMBLE 2015-2018 (Horizon 2020) “Developing the next generation technologies of renewable electricity and heating/cooling”
- Progetto IMAGE 2013-2017 (FP7 Europe) “Integrated Methods for Advanced Geothermal Exploration”
- The Ritmare Flagship Project 2012-2016 (MIUR) “Planning of the Deep Marine Environment and the Open Sea”
- Progetto RESPIRA 2009-2013 (POR-FSE Regione Toscana) “REservoir Serpentinitici toscani: da Potenziale Inquinante a Risorsa Ambientale”
Scientific interests:
- Study of fluid-rock interactions in oceanic settings: serpentinization and low-temperature alteration
- Study of hydrothermal alteration processes in mafic and ultramafic systems and carbonation
- Study of mineralogical sequestration of CO2 in mafic and ultramafic systems
- Study of carbonate formation in different geodynamic environments
- Study of the processes of formation of mineral deposits
- Study of geological hydrogen formation
- Study of the formation temperatures of minerals in the Earth’s crust
- Study of carbon transport in terrestrial environments of polar and remote areas
- Study of the interactions between current and past geo-, bio-, and hydrospheres (lakes, wetlands, soils, permafrost) for environmental and climate reconstructions.
Publications
- Baneschi I., Giamberini M., Magnani M., Mosca P., Raco B., Vivaldo G., Provenzale A. (2024). Alpine Critical Zone Observations at the Gran Paradiso National Park, Italy. In T. White and A. Provenzale (eds.), Critical Zone and Ecosystem Dynamics, Advances in Critical Zone Science, Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2024.
- Dini A., Rielli A., Di Giuseppe P., Ruggieri G., Boschi C. (2024). The Ophiolite-Hosted Cu-Zn VMS Deposits of Tuscany (Italy). Minerals 14 (3), 273.
- Curzi M., Aldega L., Billi A., Boschi C., Carminati E., Vignaroli G., Viola G., Bernasconi S.M. (2024). Fossil chemical-physical (dis)equilibria between paleofluids and host rocks and their relationship to the seismic cycle and earthquakes. Earth-Science Reviews, 254, 104801.
- Danise S., Giachetti G., Baneschi I, Casalini M., Miniati F., Dominici S., Boschi C. (2024). Sclerochronology of the large scallops Gigantopecten latissimus and Pecten jacobaeus in a Pliocene warmer Mediterranean Sea. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 654, 112429.
- Billi A., Smeraglia L., Aldega L., Balsamo F., Barberio M.D., Boschi C., Caracausi A., Carminati E., Iannace A., Mercuri M., Pizzati M., Tavani S. (2023). Dolostone pulverization induced by coseismic rapid decompression of CO2-rich gas in nature (Matese, Apennines, Italy). Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 604, 117996.
- Chimenti M., Natali S., Giannecchini R., Zanchetta G., Baneschi I., Doveri M., Isola I., Piccini L. (2023). Hydrogeochemistry and Isotopic Composition of Waters in the Renella Cave (Central Italy): New Insights into Groundwater Dynamics. Water 2023, 15, 1764.
- Malinverno E., Bosio G., Gioncada A., Cimò R., Andò S., Mariani L., Coletti G., Boschi C., Gariboldi K., Galimberti L., Bianucci G., Urbina M., Di Celma C. (2023). Laterally-continuous dolomite layers of the Miocene Pisco Formation (East Pisco Basin, Peru): a window into past cyclical changes of the diagenetic environment. Mar. Petrol. Geol., 147, 105977.
- Rielli A., Boschi C., Dini A., 2022. Tectonically driven carbonation of serpentinite by mantle CO2: Genesis of the Castiglioncello magnesite deposit in the Ligurian ophiolite of central Tuscany (Italy), Ore geology review, 149,105022, doi.org/10.1016/j.oregeorev.2022.105022.
- Baldanza A., Bizzarri R., Boschi C., Famiani F., Frondini F., Lezzerini M., Rowland S., Sutton P.A. (2022). CO2-Degassing Carbonate Conduits in Early Pleistocene Marine Clayey Deposits in Southwestern Umbria (Central Italy). Minerals, 12, 819.
- Curzi M., Caracausi A., Rossetti F., Rabiee A., Billi A., Carminati E., Aldega L., Bernasconi S.M., Boschi C., Drivenes K., Rizzo A.L., Sørensen B.E. (2022). From Fossil to Active Hydrothermal Outflow in the Back-Arc of the Central Apennines (Zannone Island, Italy). Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, 23, e2022GC010474.
- De Santis V., Cicala D., Baneschi I., Boschi C., Brignone S., Iaia M., Zaupa S., Volta P. (2022). Non-native fish assemblages display potential competitive advantages in two protected small and shallow lakes of northern Italy. Glob. Ecol. Conserv., 35, e02082.
- Natali S., Doveri M., Giannecchini R., Baneschi I., Zanchetta G. (2022). Is the deuterium excess in precipitation a reliable tracer of moisture sources and water resources fate in the western Mediterranean? New insights from Apuan Alps (Italy). Journal of Hydrology, 614, 128497.
- Zanchetta G., Baneschi I., Magny M., Sadori L., Termine R., Bini M., Vanniere B., Desmet M., Natali S., Luppichini M., Pasquetti F. (2022). Insight into summer drought in southern Italy: palaeohydrologicalevolution of Lake Pergusa (Sicily) in the last 6700 years. Quaternary Sci., Vol. 37(7) 1280–1293.
- Boldrocchi G., Spanu D., Mazzoni M., Omar M., Baneschi I.. Boschi C., Zinzula L., Bettinetti R., Monticelli D. (2021). Bioaccumulation and biomagnification in elasmobranchs: a concurrent assessment of trophic transfer of trace elements in 12 species from the Indian Ocean. Mar. Pollut. Bull., 172, 112853.
- Natali S., Baneschi I., Doveri M., Giannecchini R., Selmo E., Zanchetta G. (2021). Meteorological and geographical control on stable isotopic signature of precipitation in a western Mediterranean area (Tuscany, Italy): Disentangling a complex signal. Journal of Hydrology, 603, 126944.
- Schwarzenbach E. M., Vogel M., Früh-Green G. L., Boschi C. (2021). Serpentinization, carbonation and metasomatism of ultramafic sequences in the Northern Apennine ophiolite (NW Italy). Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth, 126, e2020JB020619 https://doi.org/10.1029/2020JB020619.
- Curzi M., Bernasconi S., Billi A., Boschi C., Aldega L., Franchini S., Albert R., Gerdes A., Barberio M. D., Looser N., Carminati E., 2021. U-Pb age of the 2016 Amatrice earthquake causative fault (Mt. Gorzano, Italy) and paleo-fluid circulation during seismic cycles inferred from inter- and co-seismic calcite. Tectonophysics, 819, doi.org/10.1016/j.tecto.2021.229076
- Smeraglia L., Aldega L., Bernasconi S., Billi A., Boschi C., Caracausi A., Carminati E., Franchini S., Rizzo A. L., Rossetti F., Vignaroli G., (2020). The role of trapped fluids during the development and deformation of a carbonate/shale intra-wedge tectonic mélange (Mt. Massico, Southern Apennines, Italy), Journal of Structural Geology, 138:104086, DOI: 10.1016/j.jsg.2020.104086.
- Baneschi I., Magny M., Zanchetta G. 2020. “Are stable isotopes of lacustrine carbonate a good tracer of lake hydrology and lake level variability?”. Alpine and Mediterranean Quaternary 33 (1): 99-106.
- Boschi, C., Bedini, F., Baneschi, I., Rielli, A., Baumgartner, L., Perchiazzi, N., Ulyanov, A., Zanchetta, G., Dini, A. (2020). Spontaneous Serpentine Carbonation Controlled by Underground Dynamic Microclimate at the Montecastelli Copper Mine, Italy. Minerals, 10, 1.
- Boretto G., Zanchetta G., Consoloni I., Baneschi I., Guidi M., Isola I., Bini M., Ragaini L., Terrasi F., et al. (2020). Stable Oxygen and Carbon Isotope Composition of Holocene Mytilidae from the Camarones Coast (Chubut, Argentina): Palaeoceanographic Implications. Water, 12(12): 3464.
- Curzi, M., Aldega, L., Bernasconi, S.M., Berra, F., Billi, A., Boschi, C., Franchini, S., Van der Lelij, R., Viola, G., Carminati, E., 2020. Architecture and evolution of an extensionally-inverted thrust (Mt. Tancia Thrust, Central Apennines): Geological, structural, geochemical, and K–Ar geochronological constraints, Journal of Structural Geology, 136, art. no. 104059. DOI: 10.1016/j.jsg.2020.104059.
- Maino M., Casini L., Boschi C., Di Giulio A., Setti M., Seno S. (2020). Time‐dependent heat budget of a thrust from geological records and numerical experiments. Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth, 125, e2019JB018940.