Land subsidence due to groundwater withdrawal in the Emilia-Romagna
coastland, Italy
P. Teatini, M. Ferronato, G. Gambolati
Dept. Mathematical Methods and Models for Scientific
Applications, University of Padova, Padova, Italy
W. Bertoni
Servizio Geologico e Protezione Civile, Municipality of Ravenna,
Ravenna, Italy
M. Gonella
Med Ingegneria S.r.l., Ferrara, Italy
M. Morelli
Servizio Ingegneria Ambientale, ARPA Emilia Romagna,
Bologna, Italy
P. Severi
Servizio Geologico, Sismico e dei Suoli, Regione Emilia-Romagna,
Bologna, Italy
ABSTRACT
The Emilia-Romagna coastland, south of the Po river delta, Italy, has been affected after
World War II by a widespread settlement of anthropogenic origin. The extensive groundwater
pumping in the 1970s has proven the main responsible for the alarming land subsidence.
The occurrence is reconstructed since the 1950s with the aid of advanced finite element
(FE) flow and poro-elasto-plastic models. After calibrating the regional subsidence model
against the piezometric and leveling records observed over the last decades, a prediction
of the land subsidence expected in 2016 is performed by the use of the pumping scenario
for the next years. The results show that the extensive groundwater withdrawal occurred
in the past is most likely the main responsible for the present land settlement as well,
because of the delayed compaction of the clay aquitards comprised between the depleted
aquifers. However, the available pumping data do not allow for a thorough understanding
of the current pointwise settlement process along the coastline, which is the most
vulnerable area of the Emilia-Romagna region from an environmental viewpoint.
