Rialto Islands

Rialto Islands, small archipelago at the north end of the Adriatic Sea, on which the Italian city of Venice is built. The low-lying islands, composed mainly of alluvial and marine deposits, are in a shallow tidal lagoon (Laguna Veneta) about 2.5 miles (4 km) east of the mainland, to which they are linked by road and railway. For several reasons—including a gradual rise of the sea’s level, local subsidence of the Earth’s crust, diversion of nearby river mouths (depriving the islands of additional alluvium buildup), excess drainage of groundwater, and the construction of additional and heavier buildings—the islands were slowly sinking in the 1970s at a rate estimated at 1.2 inches (3 cm) every 10 years. By 1980, however, efforts to utilize external water supplies (thus allowing groundwater pressure to rise) appeared to have almost stopped the sinking.