This research shows the results regarding the response to acidic condition of the sediment and Posidonia foraminiferal assemblages collected around the Panarea Island. The Aeolian Archipelago represents a natural laboratory and a much-promising study site for multidisciplinary marine research (carbon capture and storage, geochemistry of hydrothermal fluids and ocean acidification vs. benthic and pelagic organisms). The variability and the complexity of the interaction of the ecological factors characterizing extreme environments such as shallow hydrothermal vents did not allow us to carry out a real pattern of biota responses in situ, differently from those observed under controlled laboratory conditions. However, the study provides new insights into foraminiferal response to increasing ocean acidification (OA) in terms of biodiversity, faunal density, specific composition of the assemblages and morphological variations of the shells. The study highlights how the foraminiferal response to different pH conditions can change depending on different environmental conditions and microhabitats (sediments, Posidonia leaves and rhizomes). Indeed, mineral sediments were more impacted by acidification, whereas Posidonia microhabitats, thanks to their buffer effect, can offer “refugia” and more mitigated acidic environment. At species level, rosalinids and agglutinated group represent the most abundant taxa showing the most specific resilience and capability to face acidic conditions.

Raw materials are essential for all sectors of the economy as well as for all innovative technologies. Currently, industry is largely dependent on imports and consumption of these materials, and in the future, following the global energy transition, this trend will drastically increase. For this reason, it is necessary to develop new strategies to meet the supply–demand of raw materials by strategic sectors and technologies. To this end, mining residues are turning into viable raw materials sources as they represent reliable access to valuable resource supply. This work aims to validate a methodology providing more in-depth quali-quantitative information about 100 samples of mining residues collected in the Joda West mine (India) by multidisciplinary strategy in order to valorize and promote efficient resource use. In this paper, physicochemical and mineralogical characterization and hyperspectral signatures have been integrated with satellite Sentinel-2A data. In particular, the X-ray powder diffraction (XRPD), X-ray fluorescence (XRF), and scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive spectroscopy (SEM-EDS) analyses indicated the presence of mining residues samples rich in raw materials that were possible to spectrally distinguish in order to use them as input for the object-oriented classification of a satellite image. The satellite resulting map highlighted four different classes of mining residues with mean concentrations of around 36% for hematite, 23.5% for quartz, 9% for kaolinite and 5% for pyrolusite. These results represent the possibility of transforming an environmental problem (mining residues) into a resource potentially exploitable by industries knowing their composition and position in the study area. Moreover, by doing so, it will be possible to ensure sustainable consumption of the raw materials and to build resilient economies and societies, minimizing environmental degradation.

Microbial activity has been documented in various lacustrine environments, suggesting its fundamental role in mineral precipitation and, therefore, in the formation of organo-deposits such as microbialites. Many studies are currently focused on documenting how the association of microbes and extracellular polymeric substances (EPSs) may influence the authigenesis of Mg-rich clay minerals and the subsequent carbonate precipitation in growing microbialites in lacustrine environments. In this study, we investigate the present-day microbialites of the alkaline Bagno dell’Acqua lake (Pantelleria Island, Italy) using X-ray diffraction (XRD) scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS). Our results reveal the intimate association of Mg-smectite/carbonate minerals with the EPS and microbes, and, for the first time, we selected microbes belonging to phylum Firmicutes (Bacillus sp.), from natural microbialites, to carry out laboratory experiments that testify their direct role in the precipitation of clay and carbonate minerals.

We report here the results of a multi-analytical approach to characterize twelve Roman coins dating from the third century B.C. to fifth century A.D. that were found in the surroundings of Rome and for which the year of minting is determined by numismatic analysis. The coins were studied using SEM-EDS, EMPA, XRD, and FTIR techniques, enabling semi-quantitative and quantitative determinations of the chemical and mineralogical composition of the alloys and corrosion products. SEM-EDS analyses highlighted the occurrence of corrosion products on the surfaces and wide chemical variations due to selective enrichment or depletions of the alloying metals. The EMP analyses showed that three of the twelve coins are made of copper (1), one is a copper–tin alloy (2), five are copper–tin–lead alloys with elements in different proportions (3), two are copper–lead alloys (4), and another one is a subaerata coin (5). In addition, the physical parameters of the coins, i.e., density, weight, and diameters, were measured to have an overall characterization.