Final Blog Post

Venice, Italy remains one of the most popular tourist spots in Europe, and the main reason for that being its physical geography.  The city is surrounded completely by water where most of the traveling must be done by boat, which makes it perfect for a romantic getaway.  This humid subtropical climate has cool winters and very warm summers where the precipitation is spread evenly throughout the year with an average of 31.5 inches.  Venice is also located near a lagoon making it more susceptible to erosion, which remains a major issue in the area.  Venice, Italy may be one of the world’s most beautiful cities, but it may be a possibility that it will no longer exist in the future.

Venice, Italy in 1,000 years:

In 1,000 years it’s my hypothesis that Venice will be slowly eroding away.  The water surrounding the city, in the ocean, and the lagoon nearby will be eating and eroding away at the foundations and the shoreline making Venice a smaller and smaller city each passing year.  This process will take years upon years.  That’s why I predicted in the next 1,000 years, there probably wouldn’t be a noticeable difference in the way the city looks, but the process is set in place making Venice, Italy vulnerable to the elements. 

A couple sits at a cafe in Venice while a flood occurs

http://joannagoddard.blogspot.com/2012/11/venice-under-water.html

Venice, Italy in 10,000 years:

After 10,000 years, I predict that Venice, Italy will be partially to mostly underwater.  I believe that the erosion done by water and the human race will eventually take its toll on the city making the shoreline go further and further into the city resulting in Venice being almost completely gone 10,000 years from now.  The water would also play a big role in eroding away at the buildings making them fall and crumble forever into the ocean.

Venice, Italy in 1,000,000 years:

Within the next 1,000,000 years it wouldn’t be completely ridiculous to say that Venice, Italy will be completely submerged underwater.  With erosion happening at the pace it is with the water washing away at the shoreline and deep well drilling for extracting water done by humans contribute to a weaker foundation for all the architecture and historical buildings.  Perhaps Venice, Italy can be the next Atlantis?

 A picture predicting what the lost city of Atlantis could look like

http://www.familytimeoff.com/vacations/ancientruinsbahamas.html

I’m not quite sure if humans can do anything to put a stop to the erosion happening in Venice.  The ocean and the lagoon surrounding Venice contributes daily millimeters of soil that is being eroded and since water is such a powerful source of erosion, it would be impossible to block it from an entire city.  It is then up to us to enjoy Venice and all it has to offer while it is still around!

The beautiful city of Venice at night

http://www.panoramio.com/photo/55336807

The Climate of Venice

So when traveling, the most frequently asked question is what kind of weather am I going to encounter?  This determines what to pack, what activities you do, and when you'd like to travel to that place.  So I decided to apply what I learned about climate and weather in my Geography class and apply that to Venice.

According to the Koppen Climate Classification, Venice is in a region classified as a Humid Subtropical Climate.  What this means is Venice will have cool winters and very warm summers.  The yearly precipitation is spread evenly throughout the year.  

The above picture shows the average rainfall and average daily 

maximum and minimum temperatures of Venice, Italy.  As you can

see, there is a small range in temperatures year round.

 http://mcandrew-boyes.blogspot.com/

Some reasons for these mild flux in temperatures could be due to Venice being at sea level and its continentality.  The continentality of Venice plays a key role in its small flux in temperatures from winter to summer because areas closer to water typically have more cloud development keeping the area hotter and more mild in temperature year round.

Above is showing sailboats in the lagoon in Venice with a dark cloud coverage.

Clouds are a way to keep UV rays trapped and therefore making a warmer 

temperature.

http://www.gadling.com/2012/06/29/inside-the-s-pellegrino-cooking-cup-in-venice-italy/

And let's not also overlook the fact that Venice it located right next to the ocean.  Since land is less opaque than water, it heats up faster, but cools down slower so be careful when you decide to take a dip in the water.  I would suggest sometime around one or two in the afternoon for the warmest water.

Venice remains a hot spot for tourism for its architecture, history, and art.  But also, the climate remains very stable throughout the year making it a great destination year round.

Blog Entry #2: Weathering and Erosion

Venice, Italy is filled with numerous types of weathering.  With natural causes such as flooding and sea level change in combination with anthropological causes such as deep-well extraction and buildings on unstable soil, Venice is loosing around 25 cm in height relative to sea level each year. 

Customers stand in a pastry shop during a flood in Venice, Italy

December 1, 2008

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2008/12/venice_under_water.html

Here is shown a before and after picture of a beach located in Venice.  As you can 

see, the sea level is rising in this particular region causing the shoreline to reach

further inland.

http://www.environment-solutions.com/index.asp?page=articles&id=102

            In the 1930’s all through the 1970’s, humans accelerated deep-well drilling for water and extracted too much water too fast.  Excessive pumping of ground water can result a large cone of depression and end in what is called a drawdown which is where the amount of water going out far exceeds the amount of water coming back in.  Floods as well as depletion in surface water disrupting the ecosystems are direct results in this occurring.  Since groundwater pumping ceased, it has helped restore some of the geographical features of Venice such as the ground level rising. Although there have been changes made, there still remains the fact that Venice is still at the center of some mass weathering.  With the loss of this land, it makes Venice vulnerable to flooding.  When storms hit Venice, water piles up in the lagoon that back up to the Adriatic Sea.  Within the last fifty years, floods occurring here have been more intense and more frequent than ever.

            Another factor that yet plays a role in the erosion of the shoreline of Venice is the very soil that Venice is built upon.  Clay is the main type of soil that naturally occurs in the geographical area of Venice.  Clay, although can be very impermeable, is not a match to the heavy man-made structures that make up Venice.  This results not only in the erosion of the natural environment of Venice due to the impermeable surface resulting in water run-off, but also the beautiful Venetian palaces that so many travel from afar to admire.  It’s up to us to help restore this beautiful place from any further destruction!

Blog Entry #1

So in Geography 1202 for the last couple of weeks, we have been studying plate tectonics as well as minerals and rocks that make up land formations that create major geographical landmarks.  Of course, while attending lectures I couldn't help but try and connect my learn knowledge to the city that I am in love with, Venice. Venice is known for the water that surrounds the city.  It is located in the northwestern part of Italy and is surrounded by lagoons.  These lagoons were formed around six to seven thousand years ago with the melting of the Ice Age.  With the melting of all this water, it left sediments such as sand to wash up around shore and trap water in.  This action forms what we know as today as a lagoon.

 Learning in Geography that mafic minerals which are darker and denser are the minerals that make up the ocean's crust, I can easily deduce ( since I have never had the opportunity to actually go to Venice) that the type of minerals one can find in abundance would be magnesium and iron.  I believe that since those minerals are typically denser, it makes it much harder for the water in the lagoons to escape.  Although these lagoons make it possible for the city to be surrounded by water, many scientists are exploring the fact that Venice might actually be sinking.  More tests and experiments must be done to have a solid conclusion, but many speculate that at the rate that humans are using the land surrounding Venice, it might speed up the process of it sinking.

Introduction

Hello everyone,
My name is Sami Miller and I am currently in my last year at the university of Colorado Denver. I am a psychology major and also double minor in criminal justice and sociology.

  I also have a passion for running, yoga, and the outdoors.  I just turned 21 years old a couple of weeks ago and in the short time I have been alive, I have never had the privilege (or the money) to travel to Europe....more specifically, Italy.  I love the culture and the food that Italy has to offer.  Seeing pictures of Italy has convinced me more that it would make a beautiful trip as well as a perfect blog topic.  Venice, Italy will be the place I am writing this blog about, which you've probably already deduced from the title!  I've chosen Venice because I think it's fascinating to have an entire city surrounded by water.  It's uniqueness in its architecture and landscape makes it a fascinating city to analyze using new geographical concepts that I'm learning in my Geography 1202 class!  So, for the rest of the semester I will be using this blog to reflect and discuss interesting facts that I come across using the knowledge I gain from my class.   Stick around for more!