Quatarra megaproject

Discussion in 'Architecture & Engineering' started by Xylene, Apr 3, 2009.

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  1. Xylene Valued Senior Member

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    Here's an engineering megaproject for you--flood the Qatarra Depression (which covers ca. 18,000 km2) with water from the Med. It would provide a large inland sea in the north of Egypt, and sea-surface evaporation would significantly influence the climate of the local area. It would alsdo provide an enormous surrounding area of potential farmland for people to grow crops. A canal could be cut towards the northern coast; and obviously they don't want to cut the northern coastal route westward, so the channel would have to be covered, which would also act to slow down evaporation as the water flows into the new sea.
     
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  3. Ophiolite Valued Senior Member

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    And flood the buried pyramids of the ancients!!!!!
     
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  5. Xylene Valued Senior Member

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    No so, Ophiolite, I assure you--you don't have to worry about sea-water coming anywhere near the pyramids, which are all on the Giza Plateau any way--so no call for

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    fear in that regard.
     
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  7. Ophiolite Valued Senior Member

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    No, you don't understand. Buried beneath the sand sea of the Qatarra depression are the original pyramids. They are oriented towards Orion as it was positioned before the crustal pole shifting described by HAB theory. The volume of these is pi times the volume of the duplicates at Giza built by the Atlanteans.

    They contain the wisdom of the ancients and a First Edition of The Real David Beckham: An Intimate Biography, which pretty well proves time travel is a reality.
     
  8. Xylene Valued Senior Member

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    OK, I guess I'll have to think of some other mega-project then...let's see...there was a German scientist in the 1920's who came up with the idea of putting a dam across the Straits of Gibralter. He thought it would give more room for Europeans to expand south as the Med. receded--the evaporation of the Med. is more than the inflow from rivers, so the sea level would decline about one metre per year, which would expose huge new areas for settlement. However, I'm extremely cautious about such a project--the last thing we need is an enormous dam between Spain and Morocco, with illegal immigrants using the dam-crest as a bridge.

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  9. Xylene Valued Senior Member

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    There's another site that could do with some modification--the Al Kidan lowlands in the Rub al Khali (Empty Quarter) of Saudi Arabia. It covers about 32,000 square miles (an area of about two degress by four) and its down in the extreme south east. The lowlands cover part of Saudi Arabia, and parts of the Trucial States, to the north, and Muscat and Oman to the east. Pipelines could bring water from the Persian Gulf, via the Trucial States, and the Gulf of Masirah, via M. & O. An inland sea would be created with a shore line of about 2000 km and a depth of about 100 metres.
     
  10. kmguru Staff Member

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    Several years ago, I proposed a similar project to the Royal Family of Saudi Arabia through a good contact. It would have cost only $40 Billion and made the desert green in 20 years using both sea water and moisture flow using massive electromagnetic fluid pumps. There was a strong interest but some American economist adviser nixed the idea saying it will never work because it has not been done before!
     
  11. Xylene Valued Senior Member

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    Actually, kmguru, such ideas have been proposed previously. There was a French engineer (can't recall his name) who in the 1920-30 era suggested that it would be feasible to flood the Chott Djerid and Chott Melhrir lowlands of Tunisia with seawater to greate a great inland sea.

    I was thinking that the Danikil lowlands of Eritrea could be flooded if they cut a canal in from the coast--it would make the area a lot nicer to live and improve the climate of Eritrea and Ethiopia no end.

    To my mind, all you'd need is enough dynamite and you could cut yourself a canal. The Qatarra Depression is below sea level anyway, and the distance between the coast and the lowlands is only about 40 miles. The ridge of high ground between the coast and Qatarra is at its narrowest just east of the old battlefield of el Alamain--it could be cut through relatively easily. To save money, rock-spoil from the excavation could be crushed up and used as gravel for concrete to provide cover for the canal. Evaporation from the surface of the new Qatarra Sea would create a constant current pulling new water through the canal from the Mediterranean. The canal would need to be about 100 metres wide and deep to provide enough new water to keep the sea level fairly constant.
     
    Last edited: Apr 7, 2009
  12. spidergoat pubic diorama Valued Senior Member

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    Why would this help crops? Seawater is salty.
     
  13. Xylene Valued Senior Member

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    Evaporation from the sea-surface would increase local rainfall.
     
  14. CheskiChips Banned Banned

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    I'm also going to have to say no to success here. Lakes don't create farmland, alluvial soils do. The fertility of the Nile comes from sediment transfer not from water. Stagnant water wouldn't accumulate significant if any good soils. There's a lake here in Phoenix, a place with soils better than west Egypt (they are still very nutrient poor) and it has increased plant growth minimally.

    Nor would it increase local rain fall.

    The temperature of the parcel in evaporation would have to cross a cold front or encounter orographic lift for there to be any rainout. Something that simply wouldn't happen in that region of the world. It may increase humidity...but you'd only see rain if miraculously a rosby wave miraculously had sharp enough of a slope to cross the Mediterranean out of mid-Europe without heating much. Which when it very infrequently happens it already causes rain in that region.
     
  15. Xylene Valued Senior Member

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    Yes, I have to agree that the building of the Aswan Dam was a big error for Egypt--not only did they have to relocate some of their most phenomenal historical sites, but they also lost the silt from the annual Nile flood. Also, the Nile Delta is now eroding at a rapid rate because the silt is no longer being added each year.

    Regarding the fertility of the desert, it would be relatively easy, I'd have thought, to add fertiliser to the land out there--large parts of Israel have been brought into cultivation from being formerly desert, so it is possible if there's a will to the task.
     
  16. orcot Valued Senior Member

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    Your probably right, if large evaporating bodies of water caused rain then the shores of the red sea should be very wet, in stead they are amongst the driest in the world
     
  17. Xylene Valued Senior Member

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    Have you seen the April 09 National Geographic? There's an article in there which talks about climate change, and they show a map which predicts the change in rainfallm amounts and patterns until 2070. The map shows that large parts of North Africa are going to be getting up to 50% more rain by that date--so it looks like the Qatarra lowlands are going to turning into a vast swamp anyway.
     
  18. River Ape Valued Senior Member

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    I should be interested to learn the anticipated volume (in cubic miles) of Lake Qatarra.
    How would this compare to the 60(?) cubic miles being added to the world's oceans each year by the melting of polar ice?
     
  19. CheskiChips Banned Banned

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    I'm way late here.

    But desalinization was the preferred watering technique in Israel, despite its high cost it's far more stable. It'd probably be a more effective technique here as well.
     
  20. Xylene Valued Senior Member

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    Well, let's see--18,000 km2 area, 138 metres below sea level at its lowest point--I'm not sure what level it could be filled up to before it starts to spill back into the sea, because I don't have a good enough map of the region. However, say 40-50 metres depth as a maximum--roughly 18 x 10^9 metres x 50, which would put the sea surface at about 12 metres above sea level, and the sea would contain 90 x 10^9 mt3 of water.
     
  21. JustThinking Registered Member

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    hydro-project

    You actually want to keep the level of the lake at about 50 meters below the level of the Med. THis idea was thoroughly investigated back in the 20's. THe depression would utilize the evaporation rate of the desert to create hydro electric power. Dig a tunnel to the Med and the water would feed to a hydroelectric generation plant. My futher suggestion would be to use this new inland sea and solar desalinization to farm the surrounding area. Also people love to live near the water. The inland sea could also provide salt water for aquaculture ventures. This project would create large amounts of food (auqa and agri-culture), power generation, homes, and of course jobs in North Africa. Also by using canals for crop irigation you can increase the amount of power the hydro-plant produces as the evaporation rate would not be the only source of water flowing out of the inland sea.
     
  22. kmguru Staff Member

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    That sounds like a very good idea
     
  23. nanodrv7 Registered Senior Member

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    Actually the process would go on continuosly. Estimates are for 16 years @ 600 m3 but the actual area below sea level is 44,000 km2. I have been looking into the subject for awhile. Gravity and sunlight can make substantial quantities of fresh water.

    managing water for peace in the middle east.

    The site referenced gives how the project was conieved. They didn't take into the climate change aspects and Willie Ley proposed nuclear blatsing of the canal.

    The realative humidity in Egypt is alway 80-90%. You can have hundreds of kilometers of fiberglass piping and towers producing fresh water from the 200 meter pumped storage and comcentrated brine can be injected into depleted Libian oil wells indefintly.

    They wouldn't let me post a link but if you google managing warer you will find it.
     
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