This paper concerns the evolution of the quality of the groundwater bodies over space and time, with special focus on nitrate. This case study deals with the qualitative status in alluvial-pyroclastic groundwater bodies located near Naples (southern Italy). The study is based on a significant hydrochemical database, gathered through: (i) groundwater sampling and water level monitoring, (ii) chemical...

The Lombard territory (Italy), characterized by a historical process of industrialization, is affected by significant contamination both of the ground and of the groundwater. The continuous development of urban areas needs to face the problem linked to the growing presence of portions of the territory where there is the presence of contaminated groundwater (mainly chlorinated solvents and hydrocarbons),...

Deep aquifers represent a strategic resource because of their quality, generally better than rivers and shallow aquifers. More specifically, in Piedmont Region (Italy) they represent a key source of drinking water and therefore must be protected from qualitative and quantitative degradation.

In...

The groundwater overexplotation is a worldwide problem and it causes serious consequences such as land subsidence, saltwater intrusion, devastating effects on natural streamflow, groundwater fed wetlands and related ecosystems.

The Maggiore Valley (NW...

Extractive waste (EW) from abandoned mines can pose serious pressure to natural water systems. The harmful effects of EW such as deterioration of water sources by allowing leaching of potentially toxic elements (PTE) into groundwater make it necessary to carry out careful, scientific and comprehensive studies on this subject. The present research used risk analysis approach to study the effect of presence...

Geothermal Energy, being a clean and sustainable source of energy, is gaining importance worldwide due to various reasons. Geothermal power can be generated throughout the year on twenty four hour basis as it’s not much dependent on ambient temperature and weather conditions. Recently there is an increased interest in exploitation of low enthalpy geothermal resources for other applications such as geothermal space heating...

The availability and accessibility of new technologies is also transforming the world of underground construction sites, where applications developed in the mining industry are rapidly spreading.

Many of these have positive repercussions for safety and...

A global overview of the technologies that can be applied for modern tunnelling construction taking into account the OS&H aspects is shortly presented in the paper.

Nanoremediation technologies are based on the injection of reactive nanomaterials into the subsurface to promote in situ degradation of the pollutants. At present, it appears as a valid and very promising alternative to traditional and already established remediation technologies, such as Pump&Treat, In-Situ Chemical Oxidation (ISCO), air sparging and permeable reactive barriers. Due to their small size, nanoparticles (e.g. nanoscale zerovalent iron) presents a high reactivity and can be exploited to generate a reactive zone to treat a wide...

Zandobbio Marble is a crystalline dolomite produced in an open pit quarry near Bergamo, Nord Italy. This ornamental stone was already used during the Roman age. For many years the quarry was inactive, until 2006 when it was re-opened. Local law on quarries requires the elaboration of an exploitation plan: its objective, and in general the objective of the environmental assessment, is to identify areas...

The interaction between tunnels and underground water is a complex topic and it is of great relevance taking into account the environment, the protection of drinkable water and the interference with tunnel construction method. Due to the great importance of the topic, in the following are presented and discussed the most relevant technologies for water management in tunnelling with a specific attention...

The paper provides an overview of the several scientific and technical issues and challenges to be addressed for underground storage of carbon dioxide, hydrogen and mixtures of hydrogen and natural gas. The experience gained on underground energy systems and materials is complemented by new competences to adequately respond to the new needs raised by transition from fossil fuels to renewables. The experimental...

The storage of natural gas in underground geological formations (UGS) has been widely adopted to guarantee a real-time response to the market requests as well as to ensure National “strategic” reserves. In the recent past, the UGS and related technologies have been approached with increasing interest also in terms of CO2 sequestration and of large-scale storage of chemical energy, with the...

Copper and its alloys are nowadays used for many applications required to support energy transition and their market demand is growing. Due to a still limited re-cycling technology is likely that for the next years the request will be mainly covered by the traditional mining of geological deposits or from the reactivation of abandoned mines. The costs of extraction and production of minerals through open-pit...

In this paper, we discuss how to describe the geomechanical behavior of geological formations used for underground fluid storage through the application of the Virtual Element Method (VEM) on conforming polyhedral meshes for the solution of stress-strain equilibrium equations. Under the assumption of small deformations, the solution algorithm for an Isotropic Linear Elastic (ILE) constitutive law coupled...

Water in tunnels represents a challenge in any geological condition. When dealing with cohesive
material, this aspect might bring additional problems linked to the low permeability, which does 
not allow effective and quick drainage to stabilize the ground around the tunnel. Ordinary draina-
ge systems are an effective method, especially in higher permeability grounds, but these are losing 
efficacy in soft clays. This paper focuses on an innovative technique for stabilizing the tunnel face 
and surrounding ground...

The Po Plain basin in the Emilia Romagna Region (Italy) has been historically affected by strong land movements ascribed to both anthropogenic and natural sources, as well as their superposition. The paper aims to the identification, geolocation and quantification of the main land movement phenomena of the Region via the time-series decomposition and the clustering analysis on the vertical component of...