Preliminary Estimate of the Reservoir Age in the Lagoon of Venice

Abstract

The Lagoon of Venice was formed about 6000 years ago due to the marine transgression associated with the late Pleistocene sea level rise. Already by the time of the Republic of Venice (727–1797 AD) it was recognized that the future of the city and its many historical buildings was strongly correlated with the future of the lagoon itself. During the centuries many engineering projects such as modification of the fluvial systems, construction of coastal barriers, and dredging of navigation channels were carried out to preserve the lagoonal environment. The present-day lagoon is the result of all these processes and covers an area of 540 km2 with an average depth of 0.6 m. A series of radiocarbon age determinations carried out on material obtained from cores collected in the Lagoon of Venice indicate within the sedimentary units the existence of a number of discontinuities and slumping events due to the highly active lagoonal environment. The evaluation of data obtained from a variety of different materials—both terrestrial and marine—allowed us to determine for the first time the marine reservoir effect in the lagoon of Venice. The discussion includes a comparison with other relevant measurements and a possible explanation to the relatively high reservoir age (1200–1300 yr).