Bit of background: the Aswan High Dam was a dam completed in the sixties by Egypt at the first cataract of the Nile. It is 3.6 km long, almost a km wide at the base, and generates up to 2.1 gigawatts of power (the Hoover Dam has a capacity of 1.3 gigawatts). It's construction created the giant lake upstream, Lake Nasser, which is 175 cubic kilometers. In addition to electricity, the AHD doubled agricultural production in Egypt. There were some negative environmental effects, though.
Info gathered from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aswan_High_Dam
I learned an interesting fact yesterday that I hadn't ever thought about. What if the dam were destroyed, leaving Lake Nasser to rush downstream? The answer is that a tidal wave of such magnitude would be created that Egypt would essentially cease to exist as a country. Tens of millions of people would be killed, and untold material damage would be created. It would, basically, be the largest single catastrophe in human existence. In terms of both humans killed and wounded, and property damage, NO natural disaster would rival it. Maybe all the extent of World War II would rival it, but that took six years. Put another way, imagine the devastation of the recent Asian tsunami magnified perhaps 500 times over. This information boggled my mind--after all, only one nuclear weapon would be required to destroy it, but the resulting damage would have the effect of many megatons of nuclear damage, but without the radiation. I don't know what yield the bomb would have to be; maybe an engineer could figure it out. It is, after all, a very long, thick, concrete wall. And then there's the fact that the water a dam holds back can often break even a slightly damaged dam.
99 percent of Egypt's population lives along the Nile, in an area about 55,000 square kilometers. If we assumed that the waters of Lake Nasser spread only along this area, and the water were distributed evenly, then it would rise to a height of 3.2 meters, roughtly 11 feet or so. More realistically, this wouldn't happen, but even if the water covered an area of three times that amount, the water would still be around a meter high, probably at a speed and height to destroy and kill much in it's past. Of course we have to take into account the fact that the rushing water would be higher near the source and lower farther away, however.
The possible damage is speculation on my part. A scientist could probably give a much more accurate picture of what would happen; but, for the purposes of this thread, let's assume that Egypt would basically be wiped out. There's also another, smaller, Aswan Low Dam six km downriver. Let's assume that it's either simultaneously destroyed, or destroyed by the rushing water, or bypassed by the rushing water. Also, assume that the water of the Nile contained "within" Lake Nasser is used, and doesn't stay behind like it might.
Here's the scenario: what if, during the 1967 war, Egypt was winning? What if it got so bad, other countries joined in, and Israel was on the verge of being conquered? As a result of this, they decided to use their trump card and nuke the AHD, causing the results described above. What would have happened?
Also, what would happen if the dam were instead destroyed by terrorists somehow?
The dam could obviously be destroyed in the future. That's another scenario we could look at.
Info gathered from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aswan_High_Dam
I learned an interesting fact yesterday that I hadn't ever thought about. What if the dam were destroyed, leaving Lake Nasser to rush downstream? The answer is that a tidal wave of such magnitude would be created that Egypt would essentially cease to exist as a country. Tens of millions of people would be killed, and untold material damage would be created. It would, basically, be the largest single catastrophe in human existence. In terms of both humans killed and wounded, and property damage, NO natural disaster would rival it. Maybe all the extent of World War II would rival it, but that took six years. Put another way, imagine the devastation of the recent Asian tsunami magnified perhaps 500 times over. This information boggled my mind--after all, only one nuclear weapon would be required to destroy it, but the resulting damage would have the effect of many megatons of nuclear damage, but without the radiation. I don't know what yield the bomb would have to be; maybe an engineer could figure it out. It is, after all, a very long, thick, concrete wall. And then there's the fact that the water a dam holds back can often break even a slightly damaged dam.
99 percent of Egypt's population lives along the Nile, in an area about 55,000 square kilometers. If we assumed that the waters of Lake Nasser spread only along this area, and the water were distributed evenly, then it would rise to a height of 3.2 meters, roughtly 11 feet or so. More realistically, this wouldn't happen, but even if the water covered an area of three times that amount, the water would still be around a meter high, probably at a speed and height to destroy and kill much in it's past. Of course we have to take into account the fact that the rushing water would be higher near the source and lower farther away, however.
The possible damage is speculation on my part. A scientist could probably give a much more accurate picture of what would happen; but, for the purposes of this thread, let's assume that Egypt would basically be wiped out. There's also another, smaller, Aswan Low Dam six km downriver. Let's assume that it's either simultaneously destroyed, or destroyed by the rushing water, or bypassed by the rushing water. Also, assume that the water of the Nile contained "within" Lake Nasser is used, and doesn't stay behind like it might.
Here's the scenario: what if, during the 1967 war, Egypt was winning? What if it got so bad, other countries joined in, and Israel was on the verge of being conquered? As a result of this, they decided to use their trump card and nuke the AHD, causing the results described above. What would have happened?
Also, what would happen if the dam were instead destroyed by terrorists somehow?
The dam could obviously be destroyed in the future. That's another scenario we could look at.
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