LAND SUBSIDENCE AND MORPHOLOGICAL EVOLUTION OF THE VENICE LAGOON CONNECTED TO EROSIVE AND DEPOSITIONAL PROCESSES COMBINED WITH RELATIVE SEA LEVEL RISE  

The loss of land elevation with respect to the mean sea level (relative sea level rise – RSLR) is one of the processes potentially more impacting flat low-lying coastlands. Today, a continuous updating of the knowledge on land subsidence is becoming even more necessary. This holds in particular for the Venice area where land subsidence is characterized by a significant variability because of the hydro-geo-morphological complexity typical of this transitional environment. Although land subsidence in the Venice coast does not peak to values recorded in other coastal areas worldwide, the process is here severely threatening the territory because of its very low elevation, which is generally below the mean sea level, and the peculiarity of the lagoon environment. Indeed, land subsidence and sea level rise have caused a relative loss of land elevation ranging between 30 and 60 cm over the last century. Moreover, monitoring and quantifying land subsidence is of paramount importance to deeply understand the evolution of the lagoon morphologies in relation to RSLR and to plan proper adaptation plans and interventions aimed at safeguarding Venice and its lagoon. 

This research aims at quantifying the present land subsidence in the Venice Lagoon, detecting the natural and anthropogenic factors responsible for the observed movements, and predicting their possible evolution.

The activities of Topic 3.1 are divided in 3 work-packages coordinated by CNR-IGG:

WP 3.1.1 National Research Council of Italy - Institute of Geosciences and Earth Resources, Padova, Italy: “Analysis of land subsidence and vulnerability to Relative Sea Level Rise

WP 3.1.2 National Institute of Oceanography and Applied Geophysics, Sgonico (TS), Italy: “Architecture of the Late Pleistocene and Holocene deposits”

WP 3.1.3 University of Padua - Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering, Padova, Italy: “Geomechanical behavior of lagoon deposits, modeling and development of forecast scenarios of the Holocene natural subsidence”

Web Site: http://venezia2021.corila.it/home/

Scientific Responsible: Dr. Luigi Tosi, CNR-IGG (luigi.tosi(at)igg.cnr(dot)it)