Three gorges dam AS CS
- Created by: aml1
- Created on: 11-05-17 19:20
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- HARD ENGINEERING: Yangtze
- BACKGROUND
- China
- farmland and major cities next to the river
- Whutan
- Nanjing
- Seasonal flooding
- rainy season: June- August
- just under 6400 KM long
- 5 major floods over the last century
- flood of 1954
- covered 193 000 km3 of land and killed just over 33 000 people
- over 18M had to move
- covered city of Whutan for 3 months
- flood of 1954
- flood protection through hard engineering
- DEFENCES
- DAMS
- The Three Gorges Dam
- created in 1994
- reservoir behind the dam (catches water and releases it gradually)
- stores around 20 km3 of flood water
- largest hydroelectric power station in the world
- 26 turbines
- locks built alongside so ships can pass
- roughly just over 45 in the area
- The Three Gorges Dam
- LEVEES
- 3600 km levees along the middle and lower parts of the river
- DAMS
- NEGATIVE EFFECTS OF THREE GORGES
- reservoir also flood farmland, historic areas
- Temple of Zhang Fei
- sediment caught in dam = catastrophic effects if dam breaks
- people had to relocate as the water level has risen
- almost 2 M people
- 13 cities and 1352 villages submerged
- almost 2 M people
- dam could destroy habitats and species
- Siberian Crane
- Baiji dolphins
- dam reduces food supply
- reservoir also flood farmland, historic areas
- POSITIVE EFFECTS OF THREE GORGES
- reduced major flooding
- from 'once ever 10 years' to 'once every 100 years'
- safer around River Yangtze
- river shipping has increased
- bigger ships can travel through as the reservoir is deeper than before
- turbines produce electricity
- 3 % of China's demand
- reduced major flooding
- BACKGROUND
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