Venice is sinking! Implications (two)
image source: heavy.com
Go back a few decades and the scientists pronounced that Venice was sinking because of changes to the ground water levels, so stop the cause of that and Venice will stop sinking! Steps were taken and although Venice’s rate of sinking slowed it did not entirely stop.
Meanwhile the resident population of the local area grew and grew. Cruise ships became popular Small versions could get over the lagoon entrance and the tourist $$$ increased.
This increase showed that Venice was missing out as the big cruise liners, where the big tourist $$$ were could not get through the shallow waters. Now look back a few years and the Venician harbour was constructed right next to the Grand Canal.
The lagoon entrance was dredged and at a grand opening one the largest of cruise liners delivered all those rich tourists to the steps of the Doges palace. Cash registers rejoiced.
Go back a millenia or two and observe what humans have done to improve their farm productivity. The East Anglia fen district is a good example of how to convert marsh into fields, they dug ditches, miles and miles of them, this allowed the high groundwater to be drained off permanently. Until 1951 when the weather drove the North Sea ashore!
Looking at the geography of Venice and a few hundred km inland, there is a mountain range, good rainfall, so Venice is in a natural basin, the ground water has a virtually inexhaustable replenishment supply and has done over geologic time scales.
Consider a child’s balloon filled with water in a bowl, connect a tube and introduce a reservoir that can keep the balloon topped up. Minute holes in the balloon let the water level stabilize.
Build a city on the top of the balloon, this increases the weight of the structure and the ground water exit flow is greater. Build lots more structures and the outflow increases.
The tide becomes a problem as tidal action behaves like a slow acting hydraulic pump. stopping the out flow when IN, increasing the flow as it goes OUT. Now do what the old English folk did and dig a LARGE ditch. Ok, it is under water but a large aperture has a water flow that is proportional to its area squared, add to that the ditch now exposes that porous ground which was holding all that ground water back giving it a new exit point or two.
Mountains, inexhaustable water supply, the Moon and the almighty $$$ now work their magic.
The ground water level beneath Venice will fall, Venice will again sink more quickly. Add a Storm surge up the Adriatic with that lovely dredged passage aiding ingress. Add a spring tide and Venice will be under a lot of water!
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Andy Rowlands
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Nice article Michael.
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Joseph Olson
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99.9% of ground water is ‘elemental’ fission byproduct, claimed surface water ‘recharge’ zone are a fiction. Do to immeasurable change in volume under high pressure, water is considered incomprehensible. When pressured from below, soils fill like a dry sponge. When pumped dry, they contract from overburden pressure. Only prolonged periods of ZERO pumping will gradually reopen the collapsed voids. The only other option is to jack Venice up.
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Michael Clarke
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Mountains, Rivers, porous ground, High ground water levels. Poor exit, makes for a bog,
Mountains and rivers make for a replenishment source, all that ground water wants to go down hill.
Tide comes in ground water resists being pushed back up hil.
Tide goes out and the hydraulic effect is felt and the ground water escapes to be replenishes as fast as it escapes.
Venice will sink.
The English learned in 1951 that ditches open to the North Sea are a good way to let that salty water invade!
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