The foundation under Venice is fascinating.
There is the equivalent of 10 million tree trunks under the Italian city.
At first glance, wood is an inferior option to stronger materials.
But it has proven resilient since 5th century AD, when the wood was first gathered from from Northern Italy and the Balkans (leading to mass deforestation in some areas).
How? Wooden piles are submerged and buried deep in the seabed’s clay, which does two things:
1️⃣ No oxygen: Bacteria rots wood but it needs oxygen to survive and there is none where the wooden trunks are buried.
2️⃣ Salt water: Exposure to salt water for hundreds of years has hardened the wood into a stone-like material.
On top of the wooden piles are a platform made of wooden planks. On top of that is a water-resistant layer of marbles that structures are built on.
And that’s how Venice — which is 118 small islands linked by bridges, walkways and canals — was built in a swampy lagoon.
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Probably one of the most 'alien-like' species, the ribbon worm spits a living, tree-like proboscis to hunt it prey
[source, read more: https://t.co/ForVQbFfbY]