Saving Venice by seawater
A. Comerlati, M. Ferronato, G. Gambolati, M. Putti,
P. Teatini
Dept. Mathematical Methods and Models for Scientific
Applications, University of Padova, Padova, Italy
ABSTRACT
The frequency of flooding in Venice has drastically increased over the last
50 years as a major consequence of natural and anthropogenic land subsidence,
mean sea level rise, and a more active lagoon hydrodynamics induced partly
by deepening of the largest navigation channels. Subsurface fluid injection
is a well-established technology that is currently used either to enhance
oil recovery from oil fields or to reduce land settlement due to hydrocarbon
production. To help mitigate the inundation events in Venice, a numerical
study of seawater injection into a 600 800 m deep geologic formation is
performed with the aid of advanced numerical fluid dynamic and geomechanical
models. A number of parametric scenarios are addressed, consistent with the
basic geological configuration derived from the lithostratigraphy of nearby
areas in the northern Adriatic basin. Preliminary quite encouraging results
show that a set of 12 vertical injection wells, strategically located within
the lagoon, may raise Venice from 11 to up to 40 cm over a 10 year period,
thus offsetting or mitigating the vast majority of the high tides that
occasionally plague the city. Further ad hoc geological and geophysical
investigations of the lagoon subsurface are required before the present
prefeasibility study can be turned into a design project of anthropogenic
Venice uplift.
