Groundwater pumping and land subsidence in the Emilia‐Romagna coastland, Italy: Modeling the past occurrence and the future trend

Abstract

[1] The Emilia-Romagna coastland south of the Po River delta, Italy, has experienced a dramatic land settlement mainly due to the large groundwater withdrawal related to the local economic and tourist development started in the early 1950s. Although the use of surface water has reduced the settlement rate over the last three decades, anthropogenic land subsidence still continues in a few kilometer wide coastal strip at a rate larger than the natural one. The occurrence is reconstructed since 1946 with the aid of advanced finite element flow and poromechanical models implemented with a realistically detailed geology of the regional shallow multiaquifer system. The models have been calibrated against the piezometric, leveling, and extensometer records observed over the last 50 years, and a land subsidence prediction in 2016 is performed. The results show that the extensive groundwater pumping that occurred in the past is most likely the main cause of the recent land settlement as well because of the delayed compaction of the clay aquitards comprised between the depleted aquifers. However, the available pumping data do not allow for a thorough understanding of the current local settlement process along the coastline, which is the most vulnerable area of the Emilia-Romagna region from an environmental viewpoint. If the planned scenario of groundwater resource management will be implemented, anthropogenic land subsidence is bound to become a marginal problem for the central and northern portion of the Emilia-Romagna coastland.Citation: Teatini, P., M. Ferronato, G. Gambolati, and M. Gonella (2006), Groundwater pumping and land subsidence in the EmiliaRomagna coastland, Italy: Modeling the past occurrence and the future trend, Water Resour.

Measuring Spatiotemporal Features of Land Subsidence, Groundwater Drawdown, and Compressible Layer Thickness in Beijing Plain, China

“…Land subsidence has increased the risk of other disasters and threatened the properties of the society [12][13][14][15]. Mapping and quantifying how, and to what extent, the groundwater drawdown and compressible layer influence non-uniform land subsidence based on multiple time-series displacement and hydrogeological data are of concern to many scholars [16][17][18][19][20]. …”

Sedimentology Studies and Environmental Impacts of Land Subsidence in Eslamshahr, SW Tehran, Iran

“…Southwest of Tehran include Eslamshahr area has low land slope up to quite smooth with fine sediment and impermeable texture. Increased construction and population expansion and also excessive removal of underground water supplies, resulted lowering the water level and consequently led to land subsidence in this area (Hu et al, 2004;Teatini et al, 2006). Wei (2006) confirmed that the reduction of exploitation of groundwater is the only way to stop land subsidence.…”

Measuring Salinity within Shallow Piezometers:Comparison of Two Field Methods

“…In this latter area, the salinity in piezometers PZSV3, PZSV4 and PZSV8 is less than what was measured previously (5 % of mean difference -see Tables 1 and 2). After pumping, the salinity varies with respect to the pre-pumping data; in the northern and central part of the forest the differences are minimal, in the northeastern part (piezometers 16,19,20), the salinity decreases after pumping.…”

“…The surface hydrographic system consists of east-west oriented river and channels, open surface water bodies, and drainage ditches with pumping machines that discharge water towards the sea. The area is undergoing subsidence due to natural and anthropogenic causes; the subsidence has dropped most of the forest below mean sea level [15,16]. Soils are mostly sandy and their specific characteristics depend on morphology and watertable depth.…”