The Venetian Lagoon (Italian: Laguna di Venezia; Venetian: Łaguna de Venesia) is an enclosed bay of the Adriatic Sea, in northern Italy, in which the city of Venice is situated. Its name in the Italian and Venetian languages, Laguna Veneta—cognate of Latin lacus, "lake"—has provided the English name for an enclosed, shallow embayment of salt water, a lagoon.
Venetian Lagoon
Aerial view of the Venetian Lagoon, showing many of the islands including Venice itself, center rear, with the bridge to the mainland
The Venetian LagoonThe island of Torcello seen from the Lagoon at low tide
The Venetian Lagoon stretches from the River Sile in the north to the Brenta in the south, with a surface area of around 550 square kilometres (212 square miles). It is around 8% land, including Venice itself and many smaller islands. About 11% is permanently covered by open water, or canal, as the network of dredged channels are called, while around 80% consists of mud flats, tidal shallows and salt marshes. The lagoon is the largest wetland in the Mediterranean Basin.[2]
It is connected to the Adriatic Sea by three inlets: Lido, Malamocco and Chioggia. Sited at the end of a largely enclosed sea, the lagoon is subject to high variations in water level,[3] the most extreme being the spring tides known as the acqua alta (Italian for "high water"), which regularly flood much of Venice.
The nearby Marano-Grado Lagoon, with a surface area of around 160 square kilometres (62 square miles), is the northernmost lagoon in the Adriatic Sea and is called sometimes the "twin sister of the Venice lagoon".
DevelopmentEdit
The Lagoon of Venice is the most important survivor of a system of estuarine lagoons that in Roman times extended from Ravenna north to Trieste. In the sixth century, the Lagoon gave security to Romanised people fleeing invaders (mostly the Huns). Later, it provided naturally protected conditions for the growth of the Venetian Republic and its maritime empire. It still provides a base for a seaport, the Venetian Arsenal, and for fishing, as well as a limited amount of hunting and the newer industry of fish farming.
The Lagoon was formed about six to seven thousand years ago, when the marine transgression following the Ice Age flooded the upper Adriatic coastal plain.[a] Deposition of river sediments compensated for the sinking coastal plain, and coastwise drift from the mouth of the Po tended to close tidal inlets with sand bars.
Venetian lagoon from above
The present aspect of the Lagoon is due to human intervention. In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, Venetian hydraulic projects to prevent the lagoon from turning into a marsh reversed the natural evolution of the Lagoon. Pumping of aquifers since the nineteenth century has increased subsidence. Originally many of the Lagoon's islands were marshy, but a gradual programme of drainage rendered them habitable. Many of the smaller islands are entirely artificial, while some areas around the seaport of the Mestre are also reclaimed islands. The remaining islands are essentially dunes, including those of the coastal strip (Lido, Pellestrina and Treporti).
Venice Lagoon was inhabited from the most ancient times, but it was only during and after the fall of the Western Roman Empire that many people, coming from the Venetian mainland, settled in a number large enough to found the city of Venice. Today, the main cities inside the lagoon are Venice (at the centre of it) and Chioggia (at the southern inlet); Lido di Venezia and Pellestrina are inhabited as well, but they are part of Venice. However, the most part of the inhabitants of Venice, as well as its economic core, its airport and its harbor, stand on the western border of the lagoon, around the former towns of Mestre and Marghera. At the northern end of the lagoon, there is the town of Jesolo, a famous sea resort; and the town of Cavallino-Treporti.
The level of pollution in the lagoon has long been a concern[8][9] The large phytoplankton and macroalgae blooms of the late 1980s proved particularly devastating.[10][11] Researchers have identified the lagoon as one of the primary areas where non-indigenous species are introduced into the Mediterranean Sea.[12][13]
Grasses on Lazzaretto Nuovo
Negative effects to the environment such as air pollution, loss of landscape, surface water pollution, erosion, and decreasing water quality have occurred due to the emission and impacts of cruise ships transiting into the Venetian Lagoon.[14]
From 1987 to 2003, the Venice Lagoon was harmed by a relevant reduction of the nutrient inputs and of the macroalgal biomasses due to climate change; of the concentrations distributions of total nitrogen, organic phosphorus and organic carbon in the upper sediments. Meanwhile, the seagrasses started a natural process of recolonization, restoration the pristine conditions of the marine ecosystem.[15]
IslandsEdit
The Venetian Lagoon IslandsSan Lazzaro degli Armeni, has been an important center of Armenian culture for around 300 years.
^"Laguna di Venezia: Valle Averto". Ramsar Sites Information Service. Retrieved 25 April 2018.
^Poggioli, Sylvia (7 January 2008). "MOSE Project Aims to Part Venice Floods". Morning Edition (Radio program). NPR.
^"Venice, Italy (1985–2003) - 25 Years of Landsat 5 - Landsat 5 showcase - Earth Watching". earth.esa.int. Retrieved 1 February 2019.
^Brambati, Antonio; Carbognin, Laura; Quaia, Tullio; Teatini, Pietro & Tosi, Luigi (2003). "The Lagoon of Venice: Geological Setting, Evolution and Land Subsidence" (PDF). Episodes. 26 (3): 264–268. doi:10.18814/epiiugs/2003/v26i3/020.
^Heymans, J.J., Coll, M., Libralato, S., Morissette, L. and Christensen, V. (2014). "Global patterns in ecological indicators of marine food webs: a modelling approach". PLOS ONE, 9(4). doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0095845.
^Pranovi, F., Libralato, S., Raicevich, S., Granzotto, A., Pastres, R. and Giovanardi, O. (2003). "Mechanical clam dredging in Venice lagoon: ecosystem effects evaluated with a trophic mass-balance model". Marine Biology, 143(2): 393–403. doi:10.1007/s00227-003-1072-1.
^Ferretti, Sabrina; Bearzi, Giovanni. (PDF). Tethys Research Institute. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 15 March 2015.
^Grancini, Gianfranco & Cescon, Bruno (1971). "Observations of Dispersal Processes of Pollutants in Venice Lagoon and in the Po River Coastal Area". Liège Colloquium on Ocean Hydrodynamics. Société Royale des Sciences de Liège. 2: 99–110.
^Lasserre, Pierre; Marzollo, Angelo, eds. (2000). The Venice Lagoon Ecosystem: Inputs and Interactions Between Land and Sea. Man and the Biosphere Series. Vol. 25. Paris: Parthenon. ISBN978-92-3-103595-1.
^Sfriso, A.; Pavoni, B.; Marcomini, A. & Orio, A. A. (1992). "Macroalgae, Nutrient Cycles, and Pollutants in the Lagoon of Venice". Estuaries. 15 (4): 517–528. doi:10.2307/1352394. JSTOR 1352394. S2CID 84000695.
^Pranovi, Fabio; Da Ponte, Filippo & Torricelli, Patrizia (2007). "Application of Biotic Indices and Relationship with Structural and Functional Features of Macrobenthic Community in the Lagoon of Venice: An Example over a Long Time Series of Data" (PDF). Marine Pollution Bulletin. 54 (10): 1607–1618. doi:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2007.06.010. PMID 17698152. (PDF) from the original on 25 December 2015.
^Occhipinti-Ambrogi, Anna & Savini, Dario (2003). "Biological Invasions as a Component of Global Change in Stressed Marine Ecosystems". Marine Pollution Bulletin. 46 (5): 542–551. doi:10.1016/S0025-326X(02)00363-6. PMID 12735951.
^ Marchini, Agnese; Ferrario, Jasmine; Sfriso, Adriano & Occhipinti-Ambrogi, Anna (2015). "Current Status and Trends of Biological Invasions in the Lagoon of Venice, a Hotspot of Marine NIS Introductions in the Mediterranean Sea" (PDF). Biological Invasions. 17 (10): 2943–2962. doi:10.1007/s10530-015-0922-3. hdl:10278/3661477. S2CID 17434132.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Venetian Lagoon.
Atlas of the Lagoon - 103 thematic maps and associated explanations grouped in five sections: Geosphere, Biosphere, Anthroposphere, Protected Environments and Integrated Analysis
SIL – Sistema Informativo della Laguna di Venezia
Satellite image from Google Maps
MILVa – Interactive Map of Venice Lagoon
Comune di Venezia, Servizio Mobilità Acquea, Thematic cartography of Venice Lagoon
Photo gallery by Enrico Martino about Venice's lagoon small islands, night life
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The Venetian Lagoon Italian Laguna di Venezia Venetian Laguna de Venesia is an enclosed bay of the Adriatic Sea in northern Italy in which the city of Venice is situated Its name in the Italian and Venetian languages Laguna Veneta cognate of Latin lacus lake has provided the English name for an enclosed shallow embayment of salt water a lagoon Venetian LagoonAerial view of the Venetian Lagoon showing many of the islands including Venice itself center rear with the bridge to the mainlandVenetian LagoonLocationVenice Veneto ItalyCoordinates45 24 47 N 12 17 50 E 45 41306 N 12 29722 E 45 41306 12 29722Primary outflowsAdriatic SeaBasin countriesItalySurface area550 square kilometres 210 sq mi Average depth10 5 metres 34 ft Max depth21 5 metres 71 ft Surface elevation3 m 9 8 ft SettlementsVenice Campagna Lupia Cavallino Treporti Chioggia Codevigo Jesolo Mira Musile di Piave Quarto d Altino San Dona di PiaveRamsar WetlandOfficial nameLaguna di Venezia Valle AvertoDesignated11 April 1989Reference no 423 1 Contents 1 Location 2 Development 3 Ecosystem 4 Islands 5 See also 6 Notes 7 References 8 Further reading 9 External linksLocation Edit nbsp The Venetian Lagoon nbsp The island of Torcello seen from the Lagoon at low tideThe Venetian Lagoon stretches from the River Sile in the north to the Brenta in the south with a surface area of around 550 square kilometres 212 square miles It is around 8 land including Venice itself and many smaller islands About 11 is permanently covered by open water or canal as the network of dredged channels are called while around 80 consists of mud flats tidal shallows and salt marshes The lagoon is the largest wetland in the Mediterranean Basin 2 It is connected to the Adriatic Sea by three inlets Lido Malamocco and Chioggia Sited at the end of a largely enclosed sea the lagoon is subject to high variations in water level 3 the most extreme being the spring tides known as the acqua alta Italian for high water which regularly flood much of Venice The nearby Marano Grado Lagoon with a surface area of around 160 square kilometres 62 square miles is the northernmost lagoon in the Adriatic Sea and is called sometimes the twin sister of the Venice lagoon Development EditThe Lagoon of Venice is the most important survivor of a system of estuarine lagoons that in Roman times extended from Ravenna north to Trieste In the sixth century the Lagoon gave security to Romanised people fleeing invaders mostly the Huns Later it provided naturally protected conditions for the growth of the Venetian Republic and its maritime empire It still provides a base for a seaport the Venetian Arsenal and for fishing as well as a limited amount of hunting and the newer industry of fish farming The Lagoon was formed about six to seven thousand years ago when the marine transgression following the Ice Age flooded the upper Adriatic coastal plain a Deposition of river sediments compensated for the sinking coastal plain and coastwise drift from the mouth of the Po tended to close tidal inlets with sand bars nbsp Venetian lagoon from aboveThe present aspect of the Lagoon is due to human intervention In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries Venetian hydraulic projects to prevent the lagoon from turning into a marsh reversed the natural evolution of the Lagoon Pumping of aquifers since the nineteenth century has increased subsidence Originally many of the Lagoon s islands were marshy but a gradual programme of drainage rendered them habitable Many of the smaller islands are entirely artificial while some areas around the seaport of the Mestre are also reclaimed islands The remaining islands are essentially dunes including those of the coastal strip Lido Pellestrina and Treporti Venice Lagoon was inhabited from the most ancient times but it was only during and after the fall of the Western Roman Empire that many people coming from the Venetian mainland settled in a number large enough to found the city of Venice Today the main cities inside the lagoon are Venice at the centre of it and Chioggia at the southern inlet Lido di Venezia and Pellestrina are inhabited as well but they are part of Venice However the most part of the inhabitants of Venice as well as its economic core its airport and its harbor stand on the western border of the lagoon around the former towns of Mestre and Marghera At the northern end of the lagoon there is the town of Jesolo a famous sea resort and the town of Cavallino Treporti Ecosystem Edit nbsp Food web diagram of the Venetian Lagoon 5 6 Occasionally bottlenose dolphins enter the lagoon possibly for feeding 7 The level of pollution in the lagoon has long been a concern 8 9 The large phytoplankton and macroalgae blooms of the late 1980s proved particularly devastating 10 11 Researchers have identified the lagoon as one of the primary areas where non indigenous species are introduced into the Mediterranean Sea 12 13 nbsp Grasses on Lazzaretto NuovoNegative effects to the environment such as air pollution loss of landscape surface water pollution erosion and decreasing water quality have occurred due to the emission and impacts of cruise ships transiting into the Venetian Lagoon 14 From 1987 to 2003 the Venice Lagoon was harmed by a relevant reduction of the nutrient inputs and of the macroalgal biomasses due to climate change of the concentrations distributions of total nitrogen organic phosphorus and organic carbon in the upper sediments Meanwhile the seagrasses started a natural process of recolonization restoration the pristine conditions of the marine ecosystem 15 Islands Edit nbsp The Venetian Lagoon Islands nbsp San Lazzaro degli Armeni has been an important center of Armenian culture for around 300 years The Venice Lagoon is mostly included in the Metropolitan City of Venice but the south western area is part of the Province of Padua The largest islands or archipelagos by area excluding coastal reclaimed land and the coastal barrier beaches Venice 5 17 km2 Sant Erasmo 3 26 km2 Murano 1 17 km2 Chioggia 0 67 km2 Giudecca 0 59 km2 Mazzorbo 0 52 km2 Torcello 0 44 km2 Sant Elena 0 34 km2 La Certosa 0 24 km2 Burano 0 21 km2 Tronchetto 0 18 km2 Sacca Fisola 0 18 km2 San Michele 0 16 km2 Sacca Sessola 0 16 km2 Santa Cristina 0 13 km2Other inhabited islands include Cavallino Lazzaretto Nuovo Lazzaretto Vecchio Lido Pellestrina Poveglia San Clemente San Francesco del Deserto San Giorgio in Alga San Giorgio Maggiore San Lazzaro degli Armeni Santa Maria della Grazia San Pietro di Castello San Servolo Santo Spirito Sottomarina VignoleSee also EditList of islands of Italy Magistrato alle Acque MOSE ProjectNotes Edit This geological history follows Brambati et al 2003 4 References Edit Laguna di Venezia Valle Averto Ramsar Sites Information Service Retrieved 25 April 2018 Poggioli Sylvia 7 January 2008 MOSE Project Aims to Part Venice Floods Morning Edition Radio program NPR Venice Italy 1985 2003 25 Years of Landsat 5 Landsat 5 showcase Earth Watching earth esa int Retrieved 1 February 2019 Brambati Antonio Carbognin Laura Quaia Tullio Teatini Pietro amp Tosi Luigi 2003 The Lagoon of Venice Geological Setting Evolution and Land Subsidence PDF Episodes 26 3 264 268 doi 10 18814 epiiugs 2003 v26i3 020 Heymans J J Coll M Libralato S Morissette L and Christensen V 2014 Global patterns in ecological indicators of marine food webs a modelling approach PLOS ONE 9 4 doi 10 1371 journal pone 0095845 Pranovi F Libralato S Raicevich S Granzotto A Pastres R and Giovanardi O 2003 Mechanical clam dredging in Venice lagoon ecosystem effects evaluated with a trophic mass balance model Marine Biology 143 2 393 403 doi 10 1007 s00227 003 1072 1 Ferretti Sabrina Bearzi Giovanni Rare Report of a Bottlenose Dolphin Foraging in the Venice Lagoon Italy PDF Tethys Research Institute Archived from the original PDF on 2 April 2015 Retrieved 15 March 2015 Grancini Gianfranco amp Cescon Bruno 1971 Observations of Dispersal Processes of Pollutants in Venice Lagoon and in the Po River Coastal Area Liege Colloquium on Ocean Hydrodynamics Societe Royale des Sciences de Liege 2 99 110 Lasserre Pierre Marzollo Angelo eds 2000 The Venice Lagoon Ecosystem Inputs and Interactions Between Land and Sea Man and the Biosphere Series Vol 25 Paris Parthenon ISBN 978 92 3 103595 1 Sfriso A Pavoni B Marcomini A amp Orio A A 1992 Macroalgae Nutrient Cycles and Pollutants in the Lagoon of Venice Estuaries 15 4 517 528 doi 10 2307 1352394 JSTOR 1352394 S2CID 84000695 Pranovi Fabio Da Ponte Filippo amp Torricelli Patrizia 2007 Application of Biotic Indices and Relationship with Structural and Functional Features of Macrobenthic Community in the Lagoon of Venice An Example over a Long Time Series of Data PDF Marine Pollution Bulletin 54 10 1607 1618 doi 10 1016 j marpolbul 2007 06 010 PMID 17698152 Archived PDF from the original on 25 December 2015 Occhipinti Ambrogi Anna amp Savini Dario 2003 Biological Invasions as a Component of Global Change in Stressed Marine Ecosystems Marine Pollution Bulletin 46 5 542 551 doi 10 1016 S0025 326X 02 00363 6 PMID 12735951 Marchini Agnese Ferrario Jasmine Sfriso Adriano amp Occhipinti Ambrogi Anna 2015 Current Status and Trends of Biological Invasions in the Lagoon of Venice a Hotspot of Marine NIS Introductions in the Mediterranean Sea PDF Biological Invasions 17 10 2943 2962 doi 10 1007 s10530 015 0922 3 hdl 10278 3661477 S2CID 17434132 EJOLT Cruise Ships impacting Venetian Lagoon Italy EJAtlas Environmental Justice Atlas Retrieved 20 April 2020 Sonia Ceoldo Nicola Pellegrino Adriano Sfriso 2014 Natural Recovery and Planned Intervention in Coastal Wetlands Venice Lagoon Northern Adriatic Sea Italy as a Case Study The Scientific World Journal 2014 Article ID 968618 1 15 doi 10 1155 2014 968618 ISSN 1537 744X OCLC 8255474034 PMC 4122138 PMID 25126611 Further reading EditBrown Horatio 1884 Life on the Lagoons Additional editions printed in 1900 1904 amp 1909 paperback in 2008 External links Edit nbsp Wikimedia Commons has media related to Venetian Lagoon Atlas of the Lagoon 103 thematic maps and associated explanations grouped in five sections Geosphere Biosphere Anthroposphere Protected Environments and Integrated Analysis SIL Sistema Informativo della Laguna di Venezia Lagoon of Venice information Satellite image from Google Maps MILVa Interactive Map of Venice Lagoon Comune di Venezia Servizio Mobilita Acquea Thematic cartography of Venice Lagoon Photo gallery by Enrico Martino about Venice s lagoon small islands night life Portals nbsp Geography nbsp Islands nbsp Italy Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Venetian Lagoon amp oldid 1164309826, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
