dams – mammoth // building nothing out of something

Tag Archives: dams

sediment trap and release

[The annual sediment release procedure at Xiaolangdi Dam on the Yellow River in Henan province, China. According to the Daily Mail, “this annual operation sees more than 30 million tonnes of silt sent downstream a year, with more than 390 million tonnes shifted this way over the last 13 years”. It is noteworthy, from the perspective […]

unusual flood typologies i: dam failure

[Friant Dam, on the upper San Joaquin in California, filled to the top in spring of 2006.  Though the dam held, downstream flooding ensued.  When a dam does fail, as the Teton Dam did in 1976 or the Toccoa Creek Dam did in 1977, the flash-flooding that occurs can be deadly, resulting in relatively high […]