Corso di laurea magistrale in Chimica dell'Ambiente

The student acquires the ability to address the complex problems in the
environmental field as regards the assessment of the environmental
pressures from the chemical point of view, the state of the art in
measurement techniques, and legislation, both for the evolution of
chemical compounds in the environment and in the treatment processes or restoration.

Additional objectives of the course are to train the student to find and
critically evaluate the scientific and legislative literature inherent
environmental issues, and to make him acquire the ability to define the
objectives of the monitoring and to plan the strategy of measurement /
control through the knowledge of characteristics and the chemical
behavior of the various environmental compartments (air, land, biota,
lithosphere and its weathering, surface water and groundwater, lakes,
rivers, wetlands, oceans), the planetary effects of global warming and
cooling, and principal biogeochemical cycles ( of water, C, O, S, nutrients,
metals), with learning of the cognitive basis for the treatment of complex
problems.

The course deals with the chemical complexity of the environment with two distinct views, the first concerning the environmental compartments and their specificity for the processing / storage / residence of the different compounds and their interactions with each other in the compartment, the second, orthogonal to the first, that considers the individual elements or compounds in their distribution / migration
between the various environmental compartments (biogeochemical cycles). The course is designed as an introduction to all the themes that are developed in the LM.
The expected learning outcomes are: 1) knowledge of the complexity of environmental and chemical factors involved, concerning the physical chemistry, organic and inorganic chemistry, physics of fluids (air and water) in porous media (groundwater); 2) knowledge of the implications of the complexity of mono- and multiphasic environmental chemistry, involving analytical chemistry (measurement and its significance) and monitoring projects.

The course consists of lectures, with the help of slides, of which students have a complete copy, downloadable from this site or from the Moodle platform. For questions or clarifications from students, some digressions are made on the blackboard. The entire teaching is delivered in person.

The examination is oral in presence and normally consists in three questions on the environmental compartments and their specificity for the processing /storage / residence of the different compounds and their interactions with each other in the compartment, and a question on the biogeochemical cycle of an element / compound , for an average duration of about 40 minutes of the examination.

Global stoichiometric chemical reactions, box-models, relations between
minerals / Corg. Abundance of elements and their origin, formation of the
Earth, of the primitive atmosphere and its evolution, the origin of life. The
structure and composition of the present athmosphere. Reactions in the
troposphere and stratosphere. Deposition processes, the greenhouse
effect and acid rain, photochemical smog.
The biosphere. Photosynthesis, water use efficiency, respiration, net
primary production (NPP) and its measurement in different ecosystems,
production of debris and humus.
The lithosphere. Chemical weathering and its mechanisms. Chemical
reactions in soils: cation and anionic exchange capacity, clays, other
mineral oxides. Organic compounds in the soil, their nature and
distribution, soil horizons. Soils of the boreal forest, sub-arctic and
tropical forest, grasslands and deserts. Criteria for environmental impact
evaluation of soils. Nutrient and sulfur cycles in the soil.
The groundwater, its flow and source, hydraulic conductivity, infiltration
rate and retardation. Flow networks, the wells, the dispersion in porous
media, flow in the unsaturated zone.
Wetlands. Relationship pe / pH for natural waters, the anoxic condition.
The ecological redox sequence, methanogenesis and biometilation. NPP
of terrestrial wetland. The organic geochemistry in sediments.
Lakes. The stratification and concentration profiles. The cycling of
nutrients (N and P) and other phenomena of mobilization. Weathering of
the lakes.
Rivers. Genesis and function of river water, hydrographic flow charts and
their use for chemical environmental analysis. Nutrient balance and
spiralization. Estuaries and salt marshes. Zone of mixing, stratification of
the estuary and chemical reactions.
Seas and oceans. Salinity, conservative elements and not, removal
processes, the pH of seawater. Vertical stratification. Composition of
deep waters. Ocean circulation, mixing at polar areas and upwelling. NPP,
diagenesis of sediments, sedimentary memory. The cycle of C and
nutrients in the oceans.
The global cycles of the elements in the earth ecosystem. The cycle of
water (hydrosphere). The pools and streams. Global warming and
cooling. CO2, CH4 and CO: anthropogenic influences / natural
biogeochemical cycles, the role of biota and the greenhouse effect.
The cycle of oxygen and sulfur, isotope fractionation, pools and streams,
acid rain, SO2, COS. Global nitrogen cycle: chemical and biological
reactivity, fixing species, pools, global flows, NH3, NOx, N2O, Norg.
Global cycle of phosphorus compounds, its typical cycle in the
lithosphere, the role of biota and soil formation, water cycle and loss of
metals in sediments . The cycle of metals: basic concepts for streams,
the biometilation (deepening), interaction with environment, and toxicity.
Sources and distribution of Hg, Pb, Sn, Cd, Mn, As and Se.

The following monographs are available in the G. Ponzio Library of the Department of Chemistry:
1) strongly recommended: "Biogeochemistry (Third Edition) - An Analysis of Global Change" by W.H. Schlesinger and E. S. Bernhardt - 2013 Elsevier - ISBN: 978-0-12-385874-0; 2) Aquatic chemistry, W. Stumm, J. J. Morgan, 1995, John Wiley & Sons Inc, ISBN: 9780471511854.

2) as supplementary aid:
a)  Environmental Chemistry - S. E. Manahan (trad. L. Zoccolillo), Piccin-Nuova Libraria 2000;
b). C. Baird "Environmental Chemistry" Zanichelli, 1997.

We recommend the student to follow the lessons to facilitate the
understanding and guidance of a number of large and heterogeneous
concepts. In this way the educational materials provided by the teacher is
more than sufficient for personal study next.