The ability to utilize deep water resources can mitigate growing water shortages
A group of researchers from the University of Malta, the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV) and the Roma Tre University recently published a scientific study of great importance in the prestigious journal 'Communications Earth & Environment' of Nature Portfolio.
The article, entitled "Extensive freshened groundwater resources emplaced during the Messinian sea-level drawdown in southern Sicily, Italy," reveals the presence of unprecedented underground water resources in the Gela Formation, a Triassic carbonate platform in the subsoil of southern Sicily.
"Deep groundwater resources around the world represent an important potential source of unconventional water, which can support the growing needs, also linked to global demographic growth", says Lorenzo Lipparini, researcher at INGV - University of Malta, professor at Roma Tre University and first author of the study, together with Damiano Chiacchieri, INGV research fellow and doctoral student at Roma Tre University, Roberto Bencini collaborator at the University of Bologna and Aaron Micallef, professor at the University of Malta.
"THU we document an extensive underground body of fresh and brackish water preserved in an aquifer prough between 700 and 2500 meters deep below the Hyblaean Mountains, in southern Sicily".
The discovery of this vast accumulation of water is the result of an innovative approach that combines the analysis of oil wells deep with Advanced three-dimensional modeling techniques of the subsoil.
"We attributed the distribution of this fossil water accumulation to a meteoric recharge mechanism driven by Messinian sea level lowering" continues Lipparini. "We have reconstructed that this lowering of sea level, which occurred approximately 6 million years ago, reached 2400 meters below current sea level in the eastern Mediterranean basin, creating conditions favorable to the infiltration of rainwater and the accumulation and conservation of this precious water resource underground".
"These softened waters could have diversified uses, from drinking to use for industrial and agricultural purposes, thus opening new perspectives for southern Sicily and other coastal regions of the Mediterranean", underlines the INGV researcher.
"This innovative approach couldIn fact, be extended to other areas of Italy and the Mediterranean characterized by water scarcity and similar geological conditions", suggests the first author. "Thanks to the results achieved, it will now be possible to try to identify possible new accumulations also in areas such as Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Lebanon, Turkey, Malta and Cyprus, to name a few.".
"We used the team's skills, developed in particular in the oil exploration sector, to search, this time, for potentially valuable deep water resources to support sustainable development, which also allows us to address the challenges of water security".
Il Project has been included among the "actions" on the occasion of the "Water Conference” of the UN of March 2023 and, in the near future, the team plans to evaluate a development plan and a project for using these waters.
Funding for this research was provided through a Marie Curie Grant project with the University of Malta, support from Roma Tre University and INGV.
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Useful links
INGV web page: https://www.ingv.it/
University of Malta web page:
Roma Tre University web page:
University of Bologna web page:
