Sedimentation rates and erosion processes in the lagoon of Venice

The erosion or sedimentation status, acquired by utilizing sedimentation devices placed onto the bottoms, showed that sts. B, C, D were affected by sediment losses, while st. A, populated by seagrasses and characterised by seasonal variations which depend on the shoot development, did not show any significant bathymetric change on an annual basis. The highest sediment erosion was recorded at st. D (ca. 3.6 cm year− 1) whereas a loss of ca. 1.5 and 0.5 cm year− 1 was found at sts. C and B, respectively, which accounted for a mean loss in the central lagoon of ca. 1.2 million tonnes year− 1. Those data agree with the previous indirect estimation of sediment loss which was based on the number of fishing boats operating in the lagoon on an annual basis.