REconstruct subsurface heterogeneities and quantify Sediment needs TO improve the REsilience of Venice saltmarshes
The emergence, development, and survival of lagoonal landforms (e.g., salt marshes and mudflats) depend on the interaction between sedimentation, sea level rise, land subsidence, and self-compaction of the uppermost subsurface. In light of accelerating climate change and the loss of lagoonal landforms, it is crucial to quantify the amount of sediment needed to maintain their resilience to relative sea level rise (RSLR). The RESTORE project aims to provide innovative advances for the survival of lagoonal landforms in the Venice Lagoon (Italy) by highlighting areas with reduced sediment availability that will require specific restoration planning across medium- and long-term interventions. RESTORE's goals and ambitions will be achieved through a multidisciplinary approach combining: a detailed three-dimensional reconstruction of the Holocene stratigraphic architecture; a new three-dimensional numerical model that appropriately accounts for sediment self-compaction and quantifies sediment requirements in the lagoon basin; and an assessment of the vulnerability of lagoonal landforms to RSLR.
Expected products of RESTORE include:
1) A detailed 3D reconstruction of the Holocene stratigraphic architecture of the Venice Lagoon;
2) Quantification of the sediment volumes required for current lagoonal landforms to maintain their characteristics in relation to various RSLR scenarios, sediment availability, and anthropogenic pressures;
3) Graphical representation of the sedimentation rates required to maintain lagoonal landform elevation at pace with RSLR;
4) Vulnerability maps of lagoonal landforms under different RSLR scenarios.
This project is a PRIN 2022 PNRR project, funded by the European Union – NextGenerationEU.
Principal Investigator: Luigi Tosi (Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche – Istituto di Geoscienze e Georisorse).
Project partner: Prof. Massimiliano Ferronato (Università di Padova – Dipartimento di Ingegneria Civile, Ambientale e Architettura)