The architecture of the Holocene succession in the southern Venice Lagoon: an example of the application of Very High Resolution Seismic data

Most of the Venice Lagoon consists of shallows and their subsoil provides a window on the whole Holocene history while below the shipping channels the upper layers are lost because of the occurrence of bottom erosion and the dredging activity. Unfortunately, to take cores in shallows is really hard owing to impervious environment. In addition, the cores represent a very local situation due to the high facies variability of the lagoon and they need to be a significant number for the lateral correlated to reconstruct the geological setting. Very high resolution seismic survey overcomes these difficulty and data obtained provide a powerful tool to study the architecture of Holocene deposits. The near outcrop resolution provided by this technique allows the recognition of sedimentary structures and main stratal surfaces.