Ancient geomorphological features in shallows of the Venice Lagoon (Italy)

In the last years a detailed reconstruction of stratigraphic units and geomorphological features present in the Venice lagoon subsoil, down to about 30 m b.s.l., has been obtained by the integrated analysis of results from new Very High Resolution Seismic (VHRS) surveys and geological data and information. In this paper a detailed characterization of buried and surface geomorphological structures (i.e. paleoriver beds, ancient tidal channels, and paleobeach ridges), never found before in the lagoon shallows, is presented. Investigations allow to attribute these features to the Late Pleistocene and Holocene and to point out their correlation with the evolution of the lagoon basin.