Geographical origin of Vitis vinifera cv. Cannonau established by the index of bioaccumulation and translocation coefficients.

Geochemical fingerprints in grape require an identification of major and trace elements that show correlations between concentrations in soil and in plant tissues: these correlations are relevant to discriminate grapes according to geographical origin. The Vitis vinifera cultivar Cannonau is used to produce the renowned Italian controlled designation of origin (DOC) wine "Cannonau" from Sardinia. Two Cannonau vineyards located in Sardinia Region were studied to establish the relationship between geochemical features of vineyard soil and chemical composition of leaves and grape berries. Major and trace elements were determined by X-ray fluorescence and inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry in soil, leaf, and grape berry samples. The index of bioaccumulation and the translocation coefficients were also calculated for all elements. Data from the two study areas were compared by a non-parametric test and multivariate statistics (principal component analysis). The results showed a specific assimilation of these elements in leaf and grape berry from vine in two different soils. Moreover, geochemical characterization and statistical analysis enabled to discriminate the cultivar "Cannonau" according to geographical origin. The results showed that the elements that could establish a reliable correlation between the soil vineyard and leaves and grape berries from the two study areas were B, Sr, and Zr. These elements may therefore be used as geochemical fingerprints to identify the geographic origin of V. vinifera cv. Cannonau in the two study areas.

Geochemical characterization of elements in Vitis vinifera cv. Negroamaro grape berries grown under different soil managements.

The present geochemical study concerns the impact of viticultural practices in the chemical composition of the grape cultivar "Negroamaro" in Apulia, a southern Italian region renowned for its quality wine. Three types of soil management (SM), two cover cropping with different mixtures, and a soil tillage were considered. For each SM, the vines were irrigated according to two irrigation levels. Chemical composition of soil and of berries of Vitis vinifera cultivar "Negroamaro" were analyzed by X-ray fluorescence, inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry and multivariate statistics (linear discrimination analysis). In detail, we investigated major and trace elements behavior in the soil according to irrigation levels, the related index of bioaccumulation (BA) and the relationship between trace element concentration and soil management in "Negroamaro" grapes. The results indicate that soil management affects the mobility of major and trace elements. A specific assimilation of these elements in grapes from vines grown under different soil management was confirmed by BA. Multivariate statistics allowed to associate the vines to the type of soil management. This geochemical characterization of elements could be useful to develop fingerprints of vines of the cultivar "Negroamaro" according to soil management and geographical origin.

Properties of agricultural aerosol released during wheat harvest threshing, plowing and sowing.

This study shows for the first time a chemical and morphological characterization of agricultural aerosols released during three important agricultural operations: threshing, plowing and sowing. The field campaigns were carried out in the eastern part of the Po Valley, Italy, in summer and autumn 2009. The aerosol particles were sampled on quartz fiber filters and polytetrafluoroethylene membranes in order to allow Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS) analysis and Scanning Electron Microscopy equipped with an Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectrometer (SEM-EDS) investigations, respectively. The organic carbon mass concentrations were measured with a Sunset Laboratory Dual-Optical Organic Carbone/Elemental Carbon (OCEC) Aerosol analyzer. The morphological and chemical analyses by SEM-EDS allowed recognizing four main particle classes: organic, silica, calcite and clay minerals. The organic particles contribute to both fine and coarse aerosol fractions up to ca. 50% for all three agricultural activities. This was also confirmed by OCEC analysis for fine fraction. Most of the agricultural aerosols, about 60%, were single particles and the remaining 40% were agglomerations of particles. The ICP-MS results showed that threshing and plowing produce more aerosol particles than sowing, which was characterized by important amounts of clay minerals produced from land soils.

The Po river water from the Alps to the Adriatic Sea (Italy): new insights from geochemical and isotopic (δ(18)O-δD) data.

Although the Po river is the most important fluvial system of Northern Italy, the systematic geochemical and isotopic investigations of its water are rare and were never reported for the whole basin. The present contribution aims to fill this knowledge gap, reporting a comprehensive data set including oxygen and hydrogen stable isotopes as well as major and trace element concentration of dissolved species for 54 Po river water samples, mainly collected in different hydrological conditions (peak discharge in April, drought in August) at increasing distance from the source, i.e., from the upper part of the catchment to the terminal (deltaic) part of the river at the confluence with the Adriatic Sea. The isotopic compositions demonstrate that the predominant part of the runoff derives from the Alpine sector of the catchment through important tributaries such as the Dora Baltea, Ticino, Adda, and Tanaro rivers, whereas the contribution from the Apennines tributaries is less important. The geochemical and isotopic compositions show that the Po river water attains a homogeneous composition at ca. 100 km from the source. The average composition is characterized by δ(18)O -9.8‰, δD -66.2‰, total dissolved solid (TDS) 268 mg/L, and chloride 17 mg/L and by a general Ca-HCO3 hydrochemical facies, which is maintained for most of the river stream, only varying in the terminal part where the river is diverted in a complex deltaic system affected by more significant evaporation and mixing with saline water evidenced by higher TDS and chloride content (up to 8198 and 4197 mg/L, respectively). Geochemical and isotopic maps have been drawn to visualize spatial gradients, which reflect the evolution of the river water composition at progressive distance from the source; more detailed maps were focused on the deltaic part in order to visualize the processes occurring in the transitional zone toward the Adriatic Sea. The data also highlight anthropogenic contributions, mainly represented by significant concentrations of nitrate (average 8 mg/L) and possibly arsenic (average 12 µg/L). These data allow the calculation of geochemical fluxes transferred from the river to the sea, and generally, they contribute to the definition of a "hydro-archive" which is useful to highlight ongoing variations in the related ecosystems.