Santa Cesarea coastal thermal springs (southern Italy)

Abstract

The coastal carbonate Apulian aquifers, located in southern Italy, feed numerous coastal cold springs and constitute the main local source of high quality water. The group of Santa Cesarea springs constitutes the unique occurrence of thermal groundwater outflow, observed in partially submerged coastal caves. The spring water is rich of hydrogen sulfide; temperature ranges from 25 to 33 C°. For their properties, spring waters are used for spa activities from several decades. Hydrogeological spring conceptualisations proposed up now were not able to justify water geochemical peculiarities or were not completely confirmed up now. To reduce these uncertainties, a complex hydrogeological survey has been defined. Geological and structural surveys, chemical and isotopic groundwater analyses, spring and well discharge measurements, well loggings, multi-parameters spring automatized measurements, and cave explorations are ongoing. All available data have been used to improve the knowledge of groundwater flow system, including the valuable deep aquifer, the origin of the thermal waters, and to investigate the possibility of using low-enthalpy geothermal fluids to fulfil the thermal needs of the town of Santa Cesarea Terme.