ABSTRACT
The Venice lagoon is located between the Alpine Mountain range to the north and the Apennine range to the south. The bedrock below the lagoon is found at a depth of 1,000 m and is covered by a thick layer of Pleistocene sediments.
Starting from 18,000 years BP, after the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) which lasted from 30,000 to 19,000 years BP, warmer climate caused the melting of glaciers, the rising of the sea level, and marine transgression. The alluvial sediments deposited during the LGM were buried by marine and lagoon deposits during sea transgression.
The coastline reached its innermost position during the Holocene climatic optimum phase, 6,000 years BP, and the Adriatic Sea flooded the delta plain formed by the Venetian rivers, giving rise to the first lagoon. During the Holocene, shallow coastal and lagoon sediments were deposited with thicknesses ranging from a few meters toward the inland to more than 10 m toward the sea.
