Information elements to monitor land elevation at the historical buildings sites of an urban area in assessing a change in their reuse

The conservation of the XVI century buildings located in the northern part of the Venice Arsenal and the action plan to restructure them by inserting modern structures to house a scientific research institute raised a number of questions regarding, on one hand, the restoration itself and, on the other, what a subsequent change in their reuse could have on the phenomenon of subsidence. In this respect an accurate stratigraphic analysis was made down to a 25-meter depth to obtain and describe the environmental history of this lagoon site since the Late Pleistocene Epoch. By analyses on the micro-fauna, pollen, and radiocarbon dating it was possible to know and complete the paleogeographic reconstruction of the area. Precision levelings were carried out on the new network established with new benchmarks and connected to the external network used to monitor subsidence in Venice. The analysis of data confirmed the present state of the stability of the whole area; therefore, this datum will be the reference element for future leveling surveys once the intervention of conservation has been made. On the basis of this activity further studies have been planned to improve the accuracy of the acquired knowledge to extend it to the entire Arsenal area and to validate the anchoring of a benchmark at the established depth, which will become the reference mark for monitoring the town of Venice.