The subsoil architecture of the Lagoon and Gulf of Venice (Italy) by very high resolution seismic surveys in shallows

Abstract

The Project “Application of innovative of very high resolution seismic methodologies in shallow waters aimed at the study of the subsoil of the Venice Lagoon” allowed the characterization of the Late Pleistocene and Holocene depositional sequences with a detail, that has never been reached in the past. A boat, particularly suitable for very high resolution seismic survey in shallow water (less than 1 m deep) has been fully equipped and tested. It allowed to carried out surveys of specific areas of the Lagoon that have never been investigated in the past. Moreover a seismo-stratigraphic model of the lagoon and gulf of Venice subsoil has been performed. The seismic acquisition system allowed to investigate the subsoil down to 30-40 m deep. The new data provided significant geological features related to the Late Pleistocene and Holocene evolution of the investigated areas: the southern lagoon, the Lido and Chioggia inlets and part of the shelf of the Gulf of Venice.