Rennert T, Eusterhues K, De Andrade V, Totsche KU (2013) Iron species in soils on a
mofette site studied by Fe K-edge X-ray absorption spectroscopy.
The gas vent was a
mofette, which presented as a small hole flooded by rain water, giving it a puddled appearance.
In the same period the [sup.3]He/[sup.4]He ratios monitored at Bublak
mofette had in the main 5.9 Ra with variations from 5.4 to 6.3 Ra (Fig.
He refers to the experiments of Ingenhouz, Bonet and Priestley showing that "plants exposed to Light and sun empty into the atmosphere torrents of air through their upper leaf pores, while those deprived of light exhale a deleterious
mofette, truly carbonic acid."
He was French, and 'moufette', alternatively '
mofette', means 'skunk' in French.
There is a number of thermal water outflows, Komorni Hurka near Frantiskovy Lazne and Zelezna Hurka volcanoes represent remnants of Quaternary volcanic activities; in the area of Vackovec-Hartousov there are vast and intensive natural escapes of carbon-dioxide that may be observed either in a fluvial plain of the Plesna brook or in the "Soos basin" natural reserve together with dry emanations of carbon-dioxide in mud craters of the
mofette type.
The gas budget in soil on
mofette sites in seismic and volcanic areas is controlled by geogenic C[O.sub.2], which has ascended from the Earth's mantle together with Ar, [H.sub.2], He and [N.sub.2] at trace levels (Brauer et al.
* existence of an old service experience in
mofettes and mines exploitation;
Among various approaches, investigations on [CO.sub.2]-rich locations (i.e., emissions occurring in vents or
mofettes), have been selected as specifically attractive introducing a minimum of experimental intervention to these "natural laboratories".
Among them, one should mention contacts of several geological units in the basement, deep faults, granitic massifs, extensive Tertiary sedimentary basins with lignite deposits, Tertiary and Quaternary volcanism, mineral and thermal springs, dry gas vents (
mofettes), contrast gravity anomalies, and earthquake swarms in the western part of the rift (Horalek et al., 2000).