Anyone know about the big dams?

If the dams are still standing, I'd guess they won't be after the next Lake Missoula ice-dam flood cycle.
 
Yard Sale said:
You mean before or after the big one?

"The Cascadia Subduction Zone has not produced an earthquake since 1700 and is building up pressure where the Juan de Fuca Plate is subsiding underneath the North American plate. Currently, scientists are predicting that there is about a 37 percent chance that a megathrust earthquake of 7.1+ magnitude in this fault zone will occur in the next 50 years. This event will be felt throughout the Pacific Northwest."

Oregon Department of Emergency Management : Cascadia Subduction Zone : Hazards and Preparedness : State of Oregon

Cascadia Subduction Zone
www.oregon.gov www.oregon.gov
Click to expand...
HIke down the trail at Cape Lookout on the Oregon coast to the beach, look up at the north face where it intersects the beach, will clearly see at 90' the splash line from the 1700 Cascadia Tsunami that slammed the wall of the point where it intersects the beach...beach sediment was carried 4 miles inland along the Tillamook coast with the inital surge. That happens today, say goodby to a whole lot of folks along the Oregon/Washington coast.

Recall a 60 Minutes special on the Hoover dam, workers hanging from scaffolds, treating the structural cracks in the concrete. How could a hard stop on such routine repairs not = a full collapse a whole lot sooner rather than later.
 
Tom Butler said:
That life after people show was interesting. I think the dams will be gone before people. If a natural disaster doesn't do them in I feel they would be a target in a war we can't even fathom yet. Hope I'm wrong.
Click to expand...
^^^THIS^^^
Oregon has many strategic "cold war" bombing locations, due to its titanium casting production.
PS: the cold war never ended. ;-)
 
Tom Butler said:
That life after people show was interesting. I think the dams will be gone before people. If a natural disaster doesn't do them in I feel they would be a target in a war we can't even fathom yet. Hope I'm wrong.
Click to expand...

I know the AF is constantly flying old jets up the Columbia to practice targeting bridges.

Then I saw this recently. Looks like the dams would be in the B category for nuclear strikes.

Nuke Larosh.jpg


Maybe I need to start being a prepper? :ROFLMAO:
 
SilverFly said:
If the dams are still standing, I'd guess they won't be after the next Lake Missoula ice-dam flood cycle.
Click to expand...
its debatable that this is even a correct theory.

its the current accepted theory though.

some of the new evidence is making geologist challenge the current theory with a new theory that there was a meteor impact to the canadian ice sheets and then a very large flow of water under the ice sheets and jokulhlaups that had multiple discharge paths.
 
RCF said:
Thread drift. If Grand Coulee was blown up, would Dry Falls still be dry?
Click to expand...
Yes, it would be dry. Water is lifted from the "normal" channel to banks lake in the Grand Coulee.
 
SurfnFish said:
HIke down the trail at Cape Lookout on the Oregon coast to the beach, look up at the north face where it intersects the beach, will clearly see at 90' the splash line from the 1700 Cascadia Tsunami that slammed the wall of the point where it intersects the beach...beach sediment was carried 4 miles inland along the Tillamook coast with the inital surge. That happens today, say goodby to a whole lot of folks along the Oregon/Washington coast.

Recall a 60 Minutes special on the Hoover dam, workers hanging from scaffolds, treating the structural cracks in the concrete. How could a hard stop on such routine repairs not = a full collapse a whole lot sooner rather than later.
Click to expand...
I wonder what the odds are for that happening ?
 
bennysbuddy said:
I wonder what the odds are for that happening ?
Click to expand...
"Cascadia has now been building up strain for over 300 years, so the next great earthquake could happen at any time. Reduced to simple odds, the chances that an earthquake as large as magnitude 9.0 will occur along the zone within the next 50 years are about one in ten."
clark county today piece
I'd just been looking at some of this the other day.
 
Last edited:
I don't think Bonneville would last more than a few years if all dams weren't controlled. If you look at pre dam flows there would be millions of cfs and over top the dam. It is critical to make space for seasonal floods with draw downs...without draw downs the dams over top and ventilation will erode the earthen base. When Grand Coulee over tops all dams get wiped out. I've seen a simulation somewhere.

I think there is more maintenance to keep the turbine in-gates clear of debris than you'd think...I doubt they generate electricity for more than a few months. Once the in-gates are partially block the turbines erode quickly...just like a boat propeller...the failure is pretty quick.
 
Last edited:
longputt said:
I don't think Bonneville would last more than a few years if all dams weren't controlled. If you look at pre dam flows there would be millions of cfs and over top the dam. It is critical to make space for seasonal floods with draw downs...without draw downs the dams over top and ventilation will erode the earthen base. When Grand Coulee over tops all dams get wiped out. I've seen a simulation somewhere.
Click to expand...
that makes sense if you ever see how far the late winter drawdown on lake Roosevelt is.
 
sal_the_salmon said:
that makes sense if you ever see how far the late winter drawdown on lake Roosevelt is.
Click to expand...
It's crazy when Roosevelt is down 90+ feet. I've launched at Keller's in March 90 feet below where we launch in July!

Also, don't forget most of the Columbia impoundment is in BC..once those dams are full and over topping we'd see flooding we haven't seen since the early 1900's.
 
Rob Allen said:
I'd love to hear theoretical chain of events of what might occur over the course of say 15-20 years.
Click to expand...
In the year 2090 Mt, Tambora erupts with a massive explosion. small asteroid impacts the Sahara desert. Local devastation is horrific, said to be as great or greater than the 1815 eruption, but those on distant lands have survived the initial impacts. The air worldwide is filled with falling debris that lasts for years. In the second year the food shortage begins because animals can not feed and crops cannot be grown. The unrest from famine, along with the breakdown of municipal facilities has lead to several years of decline. Engineers, hoping to save the great concrete structures, open the locks and gates so that river may run as freely as possible, in the hopes that society can rebuild. Many years later small communities of people remain that have been able to serve their own needs. In the year the 2525 the river flows over the broken remains of the great dam, although not in such a beautiful way as the waters of the mighty river flowing over the falls know locally as Celilo.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Zak
Tom Butler said:
In the year 2090 a small asteroid impacts the Sahara desert. Local devastation is horrific but those on distant lands have survived the initial impact. The air worldwide is filled with falling debris that lasts for years. In the second year the food shortage begins because animals can not feed and crops cannot be grown. The unrest from famine, along with the breakdown of municipal facilities has lead to unrest. Engineers, hoping to save the great concrete structures, open the locks and gates so that river may run as freely as possible, in the hopes that society can rebuild. Many years later small communities of people remain that have been able to serve their own needs. In the year the 2525 the river flows over the broken remains of the great dam, although not in such a beautiful way as the waters of the mighty river flowing over the falls know locally as Celilo.
Click to expand...
i think the likely hood of an asteroid big enough to have this effect actually IMPACTING earth in 2090 (based on technological progression) is virtually 0. We already have advanced weapon systems in space.
 
sal_the_salmon said:
i think the likely hood of an asteroid big enough to have this effect actually IMPACTING earth in 2090 (based on technological progression) is virtually 0. We already have advanced weapon systems in space.
Click to expand...
OK, Tambora erupts again, same result.
 
Tom Butler said:
That life after people show was interesting. I think the dams will be gone before people. If a natural disaster doesn't do them in I feel they would be a target in a war we can't even fathom yet. Hope I'm wrong.
Click to expand...
Didn't we have a thread like this "over there" about a different dam ??
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top