Earth Feature

The latest record breaking river dam comes to us from China. The Three Gorges Dam spans about 7,500 feet across the Yangtze at about 600 feet high. It's name comes from three gorges that run approximately 120 miles up river; Qutang Gorge, Xiling Gorge and Wu Gorge. This dam breaks all kinds of records aside from it's shear size. It is also the world record holder as a hydropower dam, producing upwards of 20,000 megawatts, equivalent to about 20 nuclear power plants. The "pros and cons" of this particular dam are wide-ranged. While it benefits central China's power needs, irrigation uses in the area, also boosting tourism and fisheries. It's record breaking reservoir behind the dam stretches more than 400 miles, were it had displaced over 1.2 MILLION people, and submerged hundreds of factories and waste dumps, making some voice concern at future problems were pollution severely affects the area. When the reservoir filled it covered over a dozen cities, more than 125 towns, and over 1,200 villages.

While there are many things to consider when designing and building a dam, one of the most important things I found that is sometimes compromised for different reasons, is best sited in the Wikipedia-Reservoirs entry which follows:

Reservoirs
The mass of water in a reservoir alters the pressure in the rock below, which can trigger earthquakes. Reservoir-induced seismic events can be relatively large compared to other forms of induced seismicity. The first case of reservoir induced seismicity occurred in 1932 in Algeria's Quedd Fodda Dam. Unfortunately, understanding of reservoir induced seismic activity is very limited. However, it has been noted that semisicity appears to occur on dams with heights larger than 100 meters. The extra water pressure created by vast reservoirs is the most accepted explanation for the seismic activity. Induced seismicity is usually overlooked due to cost cutting during the geological surveys of the locations for proposed dams. Once the reservoirs are filled, induced seismicity could occur immediately or with a small time lag.

Serpentine Lake in London's Hyde Park is now the home of the largest solar boat in the UK. Carbon neutral, pollution-free, and silent running, the Serpentine Solar Shuttle is capable of transporting 40 passengers using only an electric engine powered completely by the sun. The design was conceived by Christoph Behling and the project was completed and launched in mid-July. He is also responsible for the design of the world's largest solar boat The Hamburg Solar Shuttle and is the founder of SolarLab Research & Design.

Another worthy achievement worth mentioning is the Sun21. The Sun21 is now in the Guinness World Records for completing the fastest transatlantic crossing using only solar power. Michel Thonney captained the boat approximatly 7000 miles completing the crossing early May of 2007. Sponsoring and developments for the Sun21 and it's crossing was made by the Swiss Transatlantic Association.

This semi-submersible ship is used widely to carry cargo such as oil rigs and other large vessels. The Marlin class is capable of carrying semi-submersible rigs of up to 30,000 metric tons. Their large, free and open deck area makes the ships very suitable for skidding or rolling large cargoes onboard, and the ballasting system is especially designed for such operations. The U.S. Navy has used such ships to haul damaged war ships back to port. Such as the USS Cole battle ship when it was damaged. These types of boats can partially submerge itself for loading of such huge cargo, then it resurfaces with the cargo load aboard it.

Modern deep-diving equipment has been improved to permit descents to very great depths, such as the U.S. Bathyscaphe, Trieste II, which descended to 35,798 ft in the Marianas Trench in 1960. Smaller, remote-controlled craft, such as the Jason, which was used to examine the sunken steamship Titanic, explore natural and human made underwater structures. Deep-diving craft provide invaluable direct observations of the deep ocean bottom, mid-ocean ridges, and marine life. Recent oceanographic studies include drilling of the seafloor.

As much as we may learn about our planet's underwater habitats through the use of satellites, shipboard sensors and divers, these technologies scratch only the surface of the oceans. Submersibles alone enable us to explore the abyssal depths. The link below of the Ocean Explorer Web site highlights some of the major advancements in submersible technology. These submersibles allow us to travel deeper and with a greater degree of freedom than ever before, so that we can observe, describe and ultimately explain the phenomena of life in the deep ocean realm.

The Thames Sea Forts of World War II are considered the direct predecessors of modern offshore oil platforms, having been pre-constructed in a very short time, they were then floated to their location and placed on the shallow bottom of the Thames estuary. In 1938, the Superior Oil company constructed the first offshore oil platform off the Gulf Coast of Louisiana. One such platform is currently drilling for oil near Blackfriar's Bridge. Work started in June 2008 and is expected to finish in October or November 2009. A typical oil production platform is self-sufficient in energy and water needs, housing electrical generation, water desalinators and all of the equipment necessary to process oil and gas. Given the number of grievances and conspiracy theories that involve the oil business, and the importance of gas/oil platforms to the economy, platforms in the United States are believed to be potential terrorist targets. Agencies and military units responsible for maritime counterterrorism in the US often train for platform raids.

Nautical engineers have long dreamed of a RV that could race across wave tops like a speedboat and seconds later dive beneath them like a submarine. But crossing the two breeds presents a catch-22: Subs need heft to sink, but speedboats need to be lightweight to go fast. With an investment of nearly $2 million and years of research, former auto-shop owner Reynolds Marion of Lake City, Florida, has finally hit on a solution, a machine has been dubbed the Hyper-Submersible Powerboat. When complete, it will reach speeds of up to 45 mph and dive down to 1,200 feet. Marion expects to start mass production next year, with the subs going for $2.5 to $4 million. This will be one expensive recreational vehicle.