Halocarbons and other trace heteroatomic organic compounds in volcanic gases from Vulcano (Aeolian Islands, Italy)

Adsorbent-trapped volcanic gases, sublimates and condensates from active vents of the La Fossa crater on the island of Vulcano (Aeolian Islands, Italy) as well as ambient and industrial air were quantitatively analyzed by Short-Path Thermal Desorption–Solid Phase Microextraction–Cryotrapping–Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry (SPTD–SPME–CF–GC–MS). Among the over 200 detected and quantified compounds are alkanes, alkenes, arenes, phenols, aldehydes, carboxylic acids, esters, ketones, nitriles, PAHs and their halogenated, methylated and sulfonated derivatives, as well as various heterocyclic compounds including thiophenes and furans. Most compounds are found at concentrations well above laboratory, ambient air, adsorbent and field blank levels. For some analytes (e.g., CFC-11, CH2Cl2, CH3Br), concentrations are up to several orders of magnitude greater than even mid-latitudinal industrial urban air maxima. Air or laboratory contamination is negligible or absent on the basis of noble gas measurements and their isotopic ratios.The organic compounds are interpreted as the product of abiogenic gas-phase radical reactions. On the basis of isomer abundances, n-alkane distributions and substitution patterns the compounds are thought to have formed by high-temperature (e.g., 900 °C) alkyl free radical reactions and halide electrophilic substitution on arenes, alkanes and alkenes. The apparent abiogenic organic chemistry of volcanic gases may give insights into metal transport processes during the formation and alteration of hydrothermal ore deposits, into the natural volcanic source strength of ozone-depleting atmospheric trace gases (i.e., halocarbons), into possibly sensitive trace gas redox pairs as potential early indicators of subsurface changes on volcanoes in the state of imminent unrest, and into the possible hydrothermal origin of early life on Earth, as indicated by the presence of simple amino acids, nitriles, and alkanoic acids.