Understanding coastal response to sea level rise in Northern Italy: the Holocene history of the Tagliamento river delta

Many deltas worldwide are at the risk of drowning under projected future rates of sea-level rise. Understanding the morphodynamic response of deltas through stages in the Holocene, is crucial to know their current state and determine their future and to take effective action.

To understand the relation of coastal-plain morphology and substrate with history of vegetation cover, sediment supply, tides and salinity gradients, between vegetation cover, sediment supply and coastal morphology we examine the history of the Tagliamento river delta in Northern Italy, a backbarrier coastal system with large lagoonal areas. This river mouth is one of the morphologically intact in Europe, even though it has experienced a long history of human presence. We combine a large dataset of 4,000 core descriptions with detailed proxy-analyses of multiple cores to map accretion surfaces in time and link them to past changes in vegetation, sea level and climate. Lithology, pollen data and C-14 ages provide quantitative information on infill rates and landscape change and human influence. Resulting geologic transects and paleogeographic maps show the 3D infill history of the former lagoon and provide constraints on sediment fluxes and degree of marine ingression. First results from pollen analysis and sedimentology show clear local and region changes in vegetation cover but relatively late and low direct human influence. Further work will attempt to confront the reconstructions with idealized model simulations of sediment budgets and geomorphology at selected moments in time.