1.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
2.
Arch dam
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An arch dam is a concrete dam that is curved upstream in plan. An arch dam is most suitable for narrow gorges or canyons with steep walls of rock to support the structure. Since they are thinner than any other dam type, they require much less construction material, Arch dams classified with respect to their structural height are, Low dams up to 100 feet, Medium high dams between 100–300 ft, High dams over 300 ft. The first known arch dam, the Glanum Dam, also known as the Vallon de Baume Dam, was built by the Romans in France, the dam was about 12 metres high and 18 metres in length. Its radius was about 14 m, and it consisted of two masonry walls, the Romans built it to supply nearby Glanum with water. The Monte Novo Dam in Portugal was another early arch dam built by the Romans in 300 AD and it was 5.7 metres high and 52 m long, with a radius of 19 m. The curved ends of the dam met with two winged walls that were supported by two buttresses. The dam also contained two water outlets to drive mills downstream, the Mongols also built arch dams in modern-day Iran. Their earliest was the Kebar Dam built around 1300, which was 26 m high and 55 m long and their second dam was built around 1350 and is called the Kurit Dam. After 4 m was added to the dam in 1850, it became 64 m tall, the Kurit Dam was of masonry design and built in a very narrow canyon. The canyon was so narrow that its crest length is only 44% of its height, the dam is still erect, even though part of its lower downstream face fell off. The Elche Dam in Elche, Spain was an arch dam built in the 1630s by Joanes del Temple. The dam was 26 metres high and 75 metres long, and had a radius of 62 metres and this arch dam also rests on winged walls that served as abutments. In the 20th century, the worlds first variable-radius arch dam was built on the Salmon Creek near Juneau, the Salmon Creek Dams upstream face bulged upstream, which relieved pressure on the stronger, curved lower arches near the abutments. The dam also had a toe, which off-set pressure on the upstream heel of the dam. The technology and economical benefits of the Salmon Creek Dam allowed for larger and taller dam designs, the dam was, therefore, revolutionary, and similar designs were soon adopted around the world, in particular by the U. S. Bureau of Reclamation. Pensacola Dam, completed in the state of Oklahoma in 1940, was considered the longest multiple arch dam in the world, designed by W. R. Holway, it has 51 arches. and a maximum height of 150 ft above the river bed. The total length of the dam and its sections is 6,565 ft while the section is 4,284 ft long
3.
Reyran
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The Reyran is a torrent of the Var department in Provence-Alpes-Côte dAzur, France and a tributary of the Argens. It is a stream,26.8 km long. The Reyran flows only three months a year and can be dry the rest of the year, the annual rate is 22.70 million m3 and once every 30 years reaches to only 15.75 million m3. The rate is highest during the months of December, January, the flow rate is sometimes zero during July and August. During the summer months, the bed may present a series of isolated ponds that decrease in size by the day. The bed of the Reyran is made of sand and gravel up to 30–40 cm. Their lithology is that of surrounding rocks, sandstone, gneiss, pegmatite, the Reyran is piped in through the city of Fréjus. A concrete canal was built after the Malpasset Dam dam failure and these are preventive measures of the city against flood risks. The Reyran does not cause flood plain, as Argens, but rather exceptional torrential floods and urban run-offs as the Garonne and Valescure to the neighboring town of Saint-Raphael. A flood of this occurred in 2012 and destroyed the concrete ford located just downstream from the highway bridge. The Frejus runs north to south and empties into the Argens at the Naval Air Base of Frejus-Saint Raphael
4.
French Riviera
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The Côte dAzur, often known in English as the French Riviera, is the Mediterranean coastline of the southeast corner of France, also including the sovereign state of Monaco. There is no boundary, but it is usually considered to extend from the Italian border in the east to Saint-Tropez, Hyères, Toulon. This coastline was one of the first modern resort areas and it began as a winter health resort for the British upper class at the end of the 18th century. In the summer, it played home to many members of the Rothschild family. After World War II, it became a popular tourist destination and convention site, many celebrities, such as Elton John and Brigitte Bardot, have homes in the region. Officially, the Côte dAzur is home to 163 nationalities with 83,962 foreign residents and its largest city is Nice, which has a population of 347,060. The city is the center of a communauté urbaine – Nice-Côte dAzur – bringing together 24 communes, Nice is home to Nice Côte dAzur Airport, Frances third-busiest airport, which is on an area of partially reclaimed coastal land at the western end of the Promenade des Anglais. A second airport at Mandelieu was once the commercial airport. The A8 autoroute runs through the region, as does the old main road known as the Route nationale 7. Trains serve the region and inland to Grasse, with the TGV Sud Est service reaching Nice-Ville station in five. The French Riviera has a population of more than two million. The region has 35,000 students, of whom 25 percent are working toward a doctorate, the French Riviera is a major yachting and cruising area with several marinas along its coast. As a tourist center, French Riviera benefits from 310 to 330 days of sunshine per year,115 kilometres of coastline, the name Côte dAzur was given to the coast by the writer Stéphen Liégeard in his book, La Côte d’azur, published in December 1887. Liégeard was born in Dijon, in the French department of Côte-dOr, the term French Riviera is typical of English use. It was built by analogy with the term Italian Riviera, which extends east of the French Riviera. As early as the 19th century, the British referred to the region as the Riviera or the French Riviera, usually referring to the part of the coast. Originally, riviera is an Italian noun which means coastline, in Occitan and French, the only usual names are Còsta dAzur in Occitan and Côte dAzur in French. A name like French Riviera is unusual and sounds odd, it could work as a word-to-word translation of the British point of view
5.
France
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France, officially the French Republic, is a country with territory in western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The European, or metropolitan, area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, Overseas France include French Guiana on the South American continent and several island territories in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. France spans 643,801 square kilometres and had a population of almost 67 million people as of January 2017. It is a unitary republic with the capital in Paris. Other major urban centres include Marseille, Lyon, Lille, Nice, Toulouse, during the Iron Age, what is now metropolitan France was inhabited by the Gauls, a Celtic people. The area was annexed in 51 BC by Rome, which held Gaul until 486, France emerged as a major European power in the Late Middle Ages, with its victory in the Hundred Years War strengthening state-building and political centralisation. During the Renaissance, French culture flourished and a colonial empire was established. The 16th century was dominated by civil wars between Catholics and Protestants. France became Europes dominant cultural, political, and military power under Louis XIV, in the 19th century Napoleon took power and established the First French Empire, whose subsequent Napoleonic Wars shaped the course of continental Europe. Following the collapse of the Empire, France endured a succession of governments culminating with the establishment of the French Third Republic in 1870. Following liberation in 1944, a Fourth Republic was established and later dissolved in the course of the Algerian War, the Fifth Republic, led by Charles de Gaulle, was formed in 1958 and remains to this day. Algeria and nearly all the colonies became independent in the 1960s with minimal controversy and typically retained close economic. France has long been a centre of art, science. It hosts Europes fourth-largest number of cultural UNESCO World Heritage Sites and receives around 83 million foreign tourists annually, France is a developed country with the worlds sixth-largest economy by nominal GDP and ninth-largest by purchasing power parity. In terms of household wealth, it ranks fourth in the world. France performs well in international rankings of education, health care, life expectancy, France remains a great power in the world, being one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and an official nuclear-weapon state. It is a member state of the European Union and the Eurozone. It is also a member of the Group of 7, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organization, originally applied to the whole Frankish Empire, the name France comes from the Latin Francia, or country of the Franks
6.
Var (department)
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The Var is a department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte dAzur region in Provence in southeastern France. It takes its name from the river Var, which used to flow along its eastern boundary, Toulon is the largest city and administrative capital of the Var. Other important towns in the Var include Fréjus, Saint-Raphaël, Draguignan, Brignoles, Hyères, the Department of the Var was created at the time of the French Revolution, on March 4,1790, from a portion of the former Royal province of Provence. Its capital was originally Toulon, but this was moved to Grasse in 1793 to punish the Toulonnais for having handed the town to the British in 1793, subsequently the capital was moved to Brignoles in 1795, then to Draguignan in 1797. It was not returned to Toulon until 1974,1815 - Following the defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo the department was occupied by Austrian troops until November 1818. 1854 – The first railroad reaches Toulon and this move also shifted the Var River, which had given the department its name, to the new Department. 1884 – A cholera epidemic struck Toulon, the leader of the fight against the epidemic was Georges Clemenceau, a doctor and a member of the National Assembly for the Seine region. He was elected Deputy from the Var from 1888 to 1893 and Senator from 1902 to 1920, 1914–1918 – The First World War stimulates growth in shipyards and military industries in the region, but weakens the agricultural and food industry. 1942 – The German Army moves from Occupied France into the Unoccupied Zone, the French Fleet is sabotaged in Toulon Harbor to keep it from falling into German hands. The Maquis Vallier, a group of resistance fighters, is active. August 15,1944 – American and Free French forces land at Cap Nègre, at Trayas, at Saint-Tropez, at Sainte-Maxime, the Free French fleet arrived at Toulon on September 13. 1960s – About one hundred thousand French citizens were repatriated from Algeria following the Algerian War of Independence, the Department of the Var has a surface area of 6,032 km2, and 420 km of coastline, including the offshore islands. 56% of the Var is covered with forest and its geological formations are divided into two regions, one composed of limestone to the north-west of a line between Toulon and Draguignan, and of crystalline rock to the south-east. The department is in the foothills of the Alps and is largely mountainous, the major mountains include, Massif des Maures and Massif de lEsterel, along the coast, are made of quartz rock. The Sainte-Baume mountain ridge, which lies in the west, mountain of Lachens, in the northwest of the department, and the highest point in the Var. The Plateau of Canjuers is located in the northeast of the Var, in the south and west there are several plateaus, such as the plateau of Siou Blanc to the north of Toulon, which rise from 400 to 700 metres in altitude. The Canyon du Verdon, the gorges of the Verdon River, is a place for hikers, kayakers. The Îles dHyères is a group of three islands off Hyères The islands are named Porquerolles, Port-Cros, and Île du Levant, together, they make up an area of 26 km2
7.
United States dollar
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The United States dollar is the official currency of the United States and its insular territories per the United States Constitution. It is divided into 100 smaller cent units, the circulating paper money consists of Federal Reserve Notes that are denominated in United States dollars. The U. S. dollar was originally commodity money of silver as enacted by the Coinage Act of 1792 which determined the dollar to be 371 4/16 grain pure or 416 grain standard silver, the currency most used in international transactions, it is the worlds primary reserve currency. Several countries use it as their currency, and in many others it is the de facto currency. Besides the United States, it is used as the sole currency in two British Overseas Territories in the Caribbean, the British Virgin Islands and Turks and Caicos Islands. A few countries use the Federal Reserve Notes for paper money, while the country mints its own coins, or also accepts U. S. coins that can be used as payment in U. S. dollars. After Nixon shock of 1971, USD became fiat currency, Article I, Section 8 of the U. S. Constitution provides that the Congress has the power To coin money, laws implementing this power are currently codified at 31 U. S. C. Section 5112 prescribes the forms in which the United States dollars should be issued and these coins are both designated in Section 5112 as legal tender in payment of debts. The Sacagawea dollar is one example of the copper alloy dollar, the pure silver dollar is known as the American Silver Eagle. Section 5112 also provides for the minting and issuance of other coins and these other coins are more fully described in Coins of the United States dollar. The Constitution provides that a regular Statement and Account of the Receipts and that provision of the Constitution is made specific by Section 331 of Title 31 of the United States Code. The sums of money reported in the Statements are currently being expressed in U. S. dollars, the U. S. dollar may therefore be described as the unit of account of the United States. The word dollar is one of the words in the first paragraph of Section 9 of Article I of the Constitution, there, dollars is a reference to the Spanish milled dollar, a coin that had a monetary value of 8 Spanish units of currency, or reales. In 1792 the U. S. Congress passed a Coinage Act, Section 20 of the act provided, That the money of account of the United States shall be expressed in dollars, or units. And that all accounts in the offices and all proceedings in the courts of the United States shall be kept and had in conformity to this regulation. In other words, this act designated the United States dollar as the unit of currency of the United States, unlike the Spanish milled dollar the U. S. dollar is based upon a decimal system of values. Both one-dollar coins and notes are produced today, although the form is significantly more common
8.
Dam
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A dam is a barrier that impounds water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use, aquaculture. Hydropower is often used in conjunction with dams to generate electricity, a dam can also be used to collect water or for storage of water which can be evenly distributed between locations. Dams generally serve the purpose of retaining water, while other structures such as floodgates or levees are used to manage or prevent water flow into specific land regions. The word dam can be traced back to Middle English, and before that, from Middle Dutch, the first known appearance of dam occurs in 1165. However, there is one village, Obdam, that is mentioned in 1120. The word seems to be related to the Greek word taphos, so the word should be understood as dike from dug out earth. The names of more than 40 places from the Middle Dutch era such as Amsterdam and Rotterdam, early dam building took place in Mesopotamia and the Middle East. Dams were used to control the level, for Mesopotamias weather affected the Tigris. The earliest known dam is the Jawa Dam in Jordan,100 kilometres northeast of the capital Amman and this gravity dam featured an originally 9-metre-high and 1 m-wide stone wall, supported by a 50 m-wide earth rampart. The structure is dated to 3000 BC, the Ancient Egyptian Sadd-el-Kafara Dam at Wadi Al-Garawi, located about 25 km south of Cairo, was 102 m long at its base and 87 m wide. The structure was built around 2800 or 2600 BC as a dam for flood control. During the Twelfth Dynasty in the 19th century BC, the Pharaohs Senosert III, Amenemhat III, two dams called Ha-Uar running east-west were built to retain water during the annual flood and then release it to surrounding lands. The lake called Mer-wer or Lake Moeris covered 1,700 km2 and is today as Berkat Qaroun. One of the wonders of the ancient world was the Great Dam of Marib in Yemen. Repairs were carried out during various periods, most important around 750 BC and these extensive works were not actually finalized until 325 AD and allowed the irrigation of 25,000 acres. By the mid-late 3rd century BC, an intricate water-management system within Dholavira in modern-day India was built, the system included 16 reservoirs, dams and various channels for collecting water and storing it. Eflatun Pınar is a Hittite dam and spring temple near Konya and it is thought to be from the time of the Hittite empire between the 15th and 13th century BC
9.
Departments of France
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In the administrative divisions of France, the department is one of the three levels of government below the national level, between the administrative regions and the commune. There are 96 departments in metropolitan France and 5 overseas departments, each department is administered by an elected body called a departmental council. From 1800 to April 2015, they were called general councils, the departments were created in 1791 as a rational replacement of Ancien Régime provinces with a view to strengthen national unity, the title department is used to mean a part of a larger whole. Almost all of them were named after geographical features rather than after historical or cultural territories which could have their own loyalties. The earliest known suggestion of it is from 1764 in the writings of dArgenson and they have inspired similar divisions in many countries, some of them former French colonies. Most French departments are assigned a number, the Official Geographical Code. Some overseas departments have a three-digit number, the number is used, for example, in the postal code, and was until recently used for all vehicle registration plates. For example, inhabitants of Loiret might refer to their department as the 45 and this reform project has since been abandoned. The first French territorial departments were proposed in 1665 by Marc-René dArgenson to serve as administrative areas purely for the Ponts et Chaussées infrastructure administration, before the French Revolution, France gained territory gradually through the annexation of a mosaic of independent entities. By the close of the Ancien Régime, it was organised into provinces, during the period of the Revolution, these were dissolved, partly in order to weaken old loyalties. Their boundaries served two purposes, Boundaries were chosen to break up Frances historical regions in an attempt to erase cultural differences, Boundaries were set so that every settlement in the country was within a days ride of the capital of the department. This was a security measure, intended to keep the national territory under close control. This measure was directly inspired by the Great Terror, during which the government had lost control of rural areas far from any centre of government. The old nomenclature was carefully avoided in naming the new departments, most were named after an areas principal river or other physical features. Even Paris was in the department of Seine, the number of departments, initially 83, was increased to 130 by 1809 with the territorial gains of the Republic and of the First French Empire. Following Napoleons defeats in 1814-1815, the Congress of Vienna returned France to its pre-war size, in 1860, France acquired the County of Nice and Savoy, which led to the creation of three new departments. Two were added from the new Savoyard territory, while the department of Alpes-Maritimes was created from Nice, the 89 departments were given numbers based on their alphabetical order. The department of Bas-Rhin and parts of Meurthe, Moselle, Vosges and Haut-Rhin were ceded to the German Empire in 1871, following Frances defeat in the Franco-Prussian War
10.
A8 autoroute
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The A8 autoroute, also known as La Provençale, is a 224-kilometer -long highway in France that runs between Aix-en-Provence and the A7 to the Côte dAzur. The A8 is an extension of the A7 starting to the west of Aix-en-Provence at La Fare-les-Oliviers, the road passes through the Departments of Bouches-du-Rhône, Var and Alpes-Maritimes. It serves the towns of Aix-en-Provence, Fréjus, Saint-Raphaël, Mandelieu-la-Napoule, Cannes, Antibes, Nice, Monaco and it crosses the mountain ranges of Sainte-Baume and of Maures between Aix-en-Provence and Fréjus and the Massif de lEsterel between Saint-Raphaël and Cannes. Following the Grande Corniche the road offers panoramas of the sea between Nice and Menton, 2x3 lanes from Coudoux (the junction with the A7 to La Barque. 2x2 lanes from La Barque to Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume increases to 2x3 lanes at Cagnes-sur-Mer, 2x4 lanes from Cagnes-sur-Mer to Saint-Laurent-du-Var. 2x2 lanes in the section through the southern Alps from Nice Saint-Augustin to the frontier with Italy, there is a speed limit of 90 km/h in the tunnels. The road has heavy traffic all year round and is especially congested in July and August (in particular around Antibes, as a result, traffic-management schemes have been adopted between Var to Nice-West similar to those on the Péripherique in Paris. The autoroute is regularly closed on the Nice-Menton section as a result of rock falls onto the carriageways, the sections crossing the Maures and LEsterel mountains are at risk from forest fires in summer. 1961, Opening of the sections of Fréjus through Mandelieu-la-Napoule to Cagnes-sur-Mer. 1969, Opening of the section from Roquebrune to the Italian frontier. 1971–1974, Staged opening of the sections between Aix-en-Provence and Fréjus,1976, Opening of the section between Cagnes-sur-Mer and Roquebrune
11.
Dam failure
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A dam is a barrier across flowing water that obstructs, directs or slows down the flow, often creating a reservoir, lake or impoundments. Most dams have a section called a spillway or weir over or through which flows, either intermittently or continuously. Dams are considered installations containing dangerous forces under International Humanitarian Law due to the impact of a possible destruction on the civilian population. Dam failures are rare, but can cause immense damage. In 1975 the failure of the Banqiao Reservoir Dam and other dams in Henan Province, the disaster killed an estimated 171,000 people and 11 million people lost their homes. Common causes of dam failure include, Sub-standard construction materials/techniques Spillway design error Geological instability caused by changes to water levels during filling or poor surveying and this raid later became the basis for several films. Other cases include the Chinese bombing of multiple dams during Typhoon Nina in an attempt to drain them before their reservoirs overflowed, the typhoon produced what is now considered a 1-in-2000 years flood, which few if any of these dams were designed to survive. Available as a pdf at Dam Failure and Flood Event Case History Compilation Bureau of Reclamation
12.
Lithology
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It may be either a detailed description of these characteristics or be a summary of the gross physical character of a rock. It is the basis of subdividing rock sequences into individual lithostratigraphic units for the purposes of mapping, in certain applications, such as site investigations, lithology is described using a standard terminology such as in the European geotechnical standard Eurocode 7. The naming of a lithology is based on the rock type, the three major rock types are sedimentary, igneous, metamorphic. Sedimentary rocks are classified by whether they are siliciclastic or carbonate. Siliciclastic sedimentary rocks are then subcategorized based on their size distribution and the relative proportions of quartz, feldspar. Carbonate rocks are classified with the Dunham or Folk classification schemes according to the constituents of the carbonate rock, the name of an igneous rock requires information on crystal size and mineralogy. This classification can often be performed with a QAPF diagram, metamorphic rock naming can be based on texture, protolith, metamorphic facies, and/or the locations in which they are found. Naming based on texture and a pelite protolith can be used to slate and phyllite. Texture-based names are schist and gneiss and these textures, from slate to gneiss, define a continually-increasing extent of metamorphism. Metamorphic facies are defined by the fields in which particular minerals form. In igneous and metamorphic rocks, grain size is a measure of the sizes of the crystals in the rock. In igneous rock, this is used to determine the rate at which the material cooled, large crystals typically indicate intrusive igneous rock, as metamorphic reactions progress, the grains in metamorphic rocks can often be broken down into smaller grains. In clastic sedimentary rocks, grain size is the diameter of the grains and/or clasts that constitute the rock and these are used to determine which rock naming system to use. In the case of sandstones and conglomerates, which cover a range of grain sizes. Examples are pebble conglomerate and fine quartz arenite, in rocks in which mineral grains are large enough to be identified using a hand lens, the visible mineralogy is included as part of the description. The mineralogical composition of a rock is one of the ways in which it is classified. In general, igneous rocks can be categorized by increasing silica content as ultramafic, mafic, intermediate, or felsic, the fabric of a rock describes the spatial and geometric configuration of all the elements that make it up. In sedimentary rocks the main fabric is normally bedding and the scale
13.
Metamorphic rock
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Metamorphic rocks arise from the transformation of existing rock types, in a process called metamorphism, which means change in form. The original rock is subjected to heat and pressure, causing profound physical and/or chemical change, the protolith may be a sedimentary, an igneous, or even an existing type of metamorphic rock. Metamorphic rocks make up a part of the Earths crust. They are classified by texture and by chemical and mineral assemblage and they may be formed simply by being deep beneath the Earths surface, subjected to high temperatures and the great pressure of the rock layers above it. They can form from tectonic processes such as continental collisions, which cause horizontal pressure and they are also formed when rock is heated up by the intrusion of hot molten rock called magma from the Earths interior. The study of rocks provides information about the temperatures and pressures that occur at great depths within the Earths crust. Some examples of rocks are gneiss, slate, marble, schist. Metamorphic minerals are those that only at the high temperatures and pressures associated with the process of metamorphism. These minerals, known as index minerals, include sillimanite, kyanite, staurolite, andalusite, and some garnet. Other minerals, such as olivines, pyroxenes, amphiboles, micas, feldspars, and quartz, may be found in metamorphic rocks and these minerals formed during the crystallization of igneous rocks. They are stable at temperatures and pressures and may remain chemically unchanged during the metamorphic process. However, all minerals are only within certain limits. The change in the size of the rock during the process of metamorphism is called recrystallization. Both high temperatures and pressures contribute to recrystallization, high temperatures allow the atoms and ions in solid crystals to migrate, thus reorganizing the crystals, while high pressures cause solution of the crystals within the rock at their point of contact. The layering within metamorphic rocks is called foliation, and it occurs when a rock is being shortened along one axis during recrystallization. This causes the platy or elongated crystals of minerals, such as mica and chlorite and this results in a banded, or foliated rock, with the bands showing the colors of the minerals that formed them. Textures are separated into foliated and non-foliated categories, foliated rock is a product of differential stress that deforms the rock in one plane, sometimes creating a plane of cleavage. For example, slate is a metamorphic rock, originating from shale
14.
Gneiss
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Gneiss is a common distributed type of rock formed by high-grade regional metamorphic processes from pre-existing formations that were originally either igneous or sedimentary rocks. The foliations are characterized by alternating darker and lighter colored bands, the word gneiss comes from the Middle High German verb gneist. It has occurred in English since at least 1757, gneissic rocks are usually medium- to coarse-foliated, they are largely recrystallized but do not carry large quantities of micas, chlorite or other platy minerals. Gneisses that are metamorphosed igneous rocks or their equivalent are termed granite gneisses, diorite gneisses, gneiss rocks may also be named after a characteristic component such as garnet gneiss, biotite gneiss, albite gneiss, etc. Orthogneiss designates a gneiss derived from a rock, and paragneiss is one from a sedimentary rock. Gneissose rocks have properties similar to gneiss, gneiss appears to be striped in bands, called gneissic banding. The banding is developed under high temperature and pressure conditions, the minerals are arranged into layers that appear as bands in cross section. The appearance of layers, called compositional banding, occurs because the layers, the darker bands have relatively more mafic minerals. The lighter bands contain relatively more felsic and these forces stretch out the rock like a plastic, and the original material is spread out into sheets. Another cause of banding is metamorphic differentiation, which separates different materials into different layers through chemical reactions, not all gneiss rocks have detectable banding. In kyanite gneiss, crystals of kyanite appear as random clumps in what is mainly a plagioclase matrix, henderson gneiss is found in North Carolina and South Carolina, US, east of the Brevard Shear Zone. It has deformed into two sequential forms, the second, more warped, form is associated with the Brevard Fault, and the first deformation results from displacement to the southwest. Most of the Outer Hebrides of Scotland have a formed from Lewisian gneiss. In addition to the Outer Hebrides, they form basement deposits on the Scottish mainland west of the Moine Thrust and on the islands of Coll and Tiree. These rocks are igneous in origin, mixed with metamorphosed marble, quartzite and mica schist with later intrusions of basaltic dikes. Gneisses of Archean and Proterozoic age occur in the Baltic Shield, in antiquity, gneisses were also utilized in architectural construction. They were used to erect the Sphinx of Taharqo in the Nile Valley, list of rock types Blatt, Harvey and Robert J. Tracy. Petrology, Igneous, Sedimentary and Metamorphic, 2nd ed. Freeman, mcKirdy, Alan, Roger Crofts and John Gordon
15.
Wing wall
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A wing wall is a smaller wall attached or next to a larger wall or structure. In a bridge, the walls are adjacent to the abutments. They are generally constructed of the material as those of abutments. The wing walls can either be attached to the abutment or be independent of it, Wing walls are provided at both ends of the abutments to retain the earth filling of the approaches. Their design depends upon the nature of the embankment and does not depend upon the type or parts of the bridge. The soil and fill supporting the roadway and approach embankment are retained by the wing walls, the wing walls are generally constructed at the same time and of the same materials as the abutments. Wing walls can be classified according to their position in plan with respect to banks, the classification is as follows, Straight Wing walls, used for small bridges, on drains with low banks and for railway bridges in cities. Splayed Wing walls, used for bridges across rivers and they provide smooth entry and exit to the water. Their top width is 0.5 m, face batter 1 in 12 and back batter 1 in 6, return Wing walls, used where banks are high and hard or firm. Their top width is 1.5 m and face is vertical, scour can be a problem for wing walls and abutments both, as the water in the stream erodes the supporting soil. Wing walls provide smooth entry of water into the site and provide support. Wing walls can serve as buttresses to support walls and they can also be purely decorative
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Fault (geology)
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In geology, a fault is a planar fracture or discontinuity in a volume of rock, across which there has been significant displacement as a result of rock-mass movement. Large faults within the Earths crust result from the action of tectonic forces. Energy release associated with movement on active faults is the cause of most earthquakes. A fault plane is the plane that represents the surface of a fault. A fault trace or fault line is the intersection of a plane with the ground surface. A fault trace is also the line commonly plotted on maps to represent a fault. Since faults do not usually consist of a single, clean fracture, the two sides of a non-vertical fault are known as the hanging wall and footwall. By definition, the wall occurs above the fault plane. This terminology comes from mining, when working a tabular ore body, because of friction and the rigidity of rocks, they cannot glide or flow past each other easily, and occasionally all movement stops. A fault in ductile rocks can also release instantaneously when the rate is too great. The energy released by instantaneous strain-release causes earthquakes, a common phenomenon along transform boundaries, slip is defined as the relative movement of geological features present on either side of a fault plane, and is a displacement vector. A faults sense of slip is defined as the motion of the rock on each side of the fault with respect to the other side. In practice, it is only possible to find the slip direction of faults. Based on direction of slip, faults can be categorized as, strike-slip. Dip-slip, offset is predominantly vertical and/or perpendicular to the fault trace, oblique-slip, combining significant strike and dip slip. The fault surface is usually vertical and the footwall moves either left or right or laterally with very little vertical motion. Strike-slip faults with left-lateral motion are known as sinistral faults. Those with right-lateral motion are known as dextral faults
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Manitou Springs, Colorado
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The city of Manitou Springs is a home rule municipality located in El Paso County, Colorado, United States. The town was founded for its setting and natural mineral springs. Among other services, shops cater to tourist interests such as clothing, candy, souvenirs, the main road through the center of town was one of the direct paths to the base of Pikes Peak. Barr Trail, which winds its way up Pikes Peak, is accessible from town. The subdivision Crystal Hills was added to the municipality in the 1960s, the city population was 4,992 at the 2010 United States Census. Students are served by Manitou Springs School District 14 and Manitou Springs High School, general William Jackson Palmer and Dr. William Abraham Bell founded Manitou Springs in 1872, intending the town to be a scenic health resort. Dr Bells home, Briarhurst Manor, is open to the public as a dining restaurant. In 1876, the town was incorporated, Manitou Springs has been the quintessential tourist town since the 1870s, when visitors discovered the healing waters the Ute Indians had been drinking for years. Many of the mineral springs still function today and the water is free. In the 1970s, Woodland Park,19 miles up Ute Pass, as a result, many of the springs were made undrinkable during the bulk of the 1980s, but this has since largely been corrected. In 1980, the Manitou Springs Historic District was formed by the Historic Preservation Committee to manage development and it is National Register of Historic Places listing and one of the countrys largest National Historic Districts. In June 2012, the city was evacuated due to the Waldo Canyon fire burning nearby. Portions of western Colorado Springs were also evacuated, Manitou Springs did not suffer any fire damage, and the city was under evacuation orders from only 1,30 a. m. Monday until 8 p. m. the same day, when the order was lifted, there was no fire damage visible from Manitou Springs, and all businesses were reopened. On the afternoon of August 9,2013, the city was inundated by a flash flood entering the northern edges of the city via roadways, traffic was stopped in both directions as the highway barriers formed a river drifting several occupied cars down a runoff ditch. The flood water threatened buildings and parking lots situated along Fountain Creek, Manitou Springs is a local government and a home rule city located within the Colorado Springs metropolitan area. Manitou Springs is managed by the mayor and six city council members. The mayor is elected to a two-year term, Council members are elected to 4 year, overlapping, terms
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Moyie Dam
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Moyie Dam is a dam in Boundary County, Idaho. The current 92-foot-high concrete gravity dam was built in 1950, and is owned and operated by the city of Bonners Ferry, Idaho. As of 1984 Bonners Ferry was one of only three Idaho cities with its own municipally owned hydropower source, and the city ran it at a small profit returned to its general fund. The dam creates a small, unnamed reservoir on the Moyie of about 34 surface areas. The ruins of the 1923 version of the dam, the Old Eileen Dam 48. 77550°N116. 15514°W /48.77550, -116. 15514 ), stands five miles upstream. Its noted as one of the few concrete single-angle thin-arch dams to be breached, a sudden flood in 1925 overtopped the 52-foot dam, washed out the left embankment, and left the dam shell intact. The shell and rusting powerhouse equipment remain, posing an obstacle, and mystery, for white-water rafters
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Moyie Springs, Idaho
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Moyie Springs is a city in Boundary County, Idaho, United States. The population was 718 at the 2010 census, Moyie Springs is located at 48°43′29″N 116°11′37″W. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has an area of 1.52 square miles. Moyie Springs is located near the confluence of the Moyie and Kootenai rivers, as of the census of 2010, there were 718 people,270 households, and 190 families residing in the city. The population density was 472.4 inhabitants per square mile, there were 297 housing units at an average density of 195.4 per square mile. The racial makeup of the city was 93. 6% White,0. 8% African American,0. 7% Native American,0. 1% Asian,1. 7% from other races, hispanic or Latino of any race were 7. 7% of the population. 24. 1% of all households were made up of individuals and 8. 9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older, the average household size was 2.66 and the average family size was 3.12. The median age in the city was 32.3 years. 31. 8% of residents were under the age of 18,6. 5% were between the ages of 18 and 24,26. 8% were from 25 to 44,24. 1% were from 45 to 64, and 10. 6% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 48. 6% male and 51. 4% female, as of the census of 2000, there were 656 people,240 households, and 177 families residing in the city. The population density was 432.5 people per square mile, there were 254 housing units at an average density of 167.5 per square mile. The racial makeup of the city was 98. 02% White,0. 76% Native American,0. 15% Asian,0. 61% from other races, hispanic or Latino of any race were 2. 44% of the population. 18. 3% of all households were made up of individuals and 5. 0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older, the average household size was 2.73 and the average family size was 3.14. In the city, the population was out with 32. 8% under the age of 18,6. 9% from 18 to 24,27. 9% from 25 to 44,20. 7% from 45 to 64. The median age was 32 years, for every 100 females there were 88.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 90.9 males, the median income for a household in the city was $35,781, and the median income for a family was $36,042. Males had an income of $32,788 versus $30,500 for females. The per capita income for the city was $15,516, about 13. 6% of families and 17. 6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 21. 9% of those under age 18 and 6. 1% of those age 65 or over
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Vajont Dam
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The Vajont Dam is a disused dam, completed in 1959 in the valley of the Vajont River under Monte Toc, in the municipality of Erto e Casso,100 km north of Venice, Italy. One of the tallest dams in the world, it is 262 metres high,27 metres wide and 22.11 metres thick at the base and 191 metres wide and 3.4 metres thick at the top. In 1962 the dam was nationalized and came under the control of ENEL as part of the Italian Ministry for Public Works. It was described as the tallest dam in the world, intended to meet the demands of industrialization. Although the wave only contained a third of the dams contents, the dam was built by SADE, the electricity supply and distribution monopoly in northeastern Italy. The owner, Giuseppe Volpi di Misurata, had been Mussolinis Minister of Finances for several years, the dam had a volume of 360,000 m³ and held up to 168,715,000 cubic meters of water. Tens of kilometres of pipes and pipe-bridges across valleys were planned. SADE stated that the geology of the gorge had been studied, including analysis of ancient landslides, construction work started in 1957, but by 1959 shifts and fractures were noticed while building a new road on the side of Monte Toc. This led to new studies in which three experts separately told SADE that the side of Monte Toc was unstable and would likely collapse into the basin if the filling were completed. All three were ignored by SADE, construction was completed in October 1959, and in February 1960, SADE was authorised to start filling the basin. In 1962 the dam was nationalized and came under the control of ENEL as part of the Italian Ministry for Public Works. On March 22,1959, during construction of the Vajont dam, throughout the summer of 1960, minor landslides and earth movements were noticed. However, instead of heeding these warning signs, the Italian government chose to sue the handful of journalists reporting the problems for undermining the social order. On 4 November 1960, with the level in the reservoir at about 190 metres of the planned 262 metres. In October 1961, after the completion of the gallery, SADE resumed filling the reservoir under controlled monitoring. In April and May 1962, with the water level at 215 metres. SADE downplayed the importance of these quakes, SADE was then authorized to fill the reservoir to the maximum level. In July 1962, SADEs own engineers reported the results of model-based experiments on the effects of landslides from Monte Toc into the lake
