1.
Inle Lake
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Inle Lake, is a freshwater lake located in the Nyaungshwe Township of Taunggyi District of Shan State, part of Shan Hills in Myanmar. It is the second largest lake in Myanmar with a surface area of 44.9 square miles. During the dry season, the water depth is 7 feet, with the deepest point being 12 feet. The watershed area for the lies to a large extent to the north. The lake drains through the Nam Pilu or Balu Chaung on its southern end, there is also a hot spring on its northwestern shore. Although the lake is not large, it contains a number of endemic species, over twenty species of snails and nine species of fish are found nowhere else in the world. Some of these, like the silver-blue scaleless Sawbwa barb, the crossbanded dwarf danio, and it hosts approximately 20,000 brown and black head migratory seagulls in November, December and January. In June 2015, it became Myanmars first designated place of World Network of Biosphere Reserves and it was one of 20 places added at the Unescos 27th Man and the Biosphere International Coordinating Council meeting. The people of Inle Lake, some 70,000 of them, live in four cities bordering the lake, in small villages along the lakes shores. The entire lake area is in Nyaung Shwe township, the population consists predominantly of Intha, with a mix of other Shan, Taungyo, Pa-O, Danu, Kayah, Danaw and Bamar ethnicities. Most are devout Buddhists, and live in houses of wood and woven bamboo on stilts. Transportation on the lake is traditionally by small boats, or by larger boats fitted with single cylinder inboard diesel engines. Local fishermen are known for practicing a distinctive rowing style which involves standing at the stern on one leg and this unique style evolved out of necessity as the lake is covered by reeds and floating plants, making it difficult to see above them while sitting. Standing provides the rower with a view beyond the reeds, however, the leg rowing style is only practiced by the men. Women row in the style, using the oar with their hands. Fish caught from the lake - the most abundant kind is called nga hpein locally - are a staple of the local diet, a popular local dish is htamin gyin - fermented rice kneaded with fish and/or potato - served with hnapyan gyaw. In addition to fishing, locals grow vegetables and fruit in gardens that float on the surface of the lake. The floating garden beds are formed by manual labor
2.
Deep foundation
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A deep foundation is a type of foundation which transfers building loads to the earth farther down from the surface than a shallow foundation does, to a subsurface layer or a range of depths. A pile is a structural element of a deep foundation. There are different terms used to different types of deep foundations including the pile, the pier, drilled shafts. Piles are generally driven into the ground in situ, other foundations are typically put in place using excavation. The naming conventions may vary between engineering disciplines and firms, Deep foundations can be made out of timber, steel, reinforced concrete or prestressed concrete. Prefabricated piles are driven into the ground using a pile driver, driven piles are either wood, reinforced concrete, or steel. Wooden piles are made from the trunks of tall trees, concrete piles are available in square, octagonal, and round cross-sections. They are reinforced with rebar and are often prestressed, steel piles are either pipe piles or some sort of beam section. Foundations relying on driven piles often have groups of piles connected by a cap to distribute loads which are larger than one pile can bear. A monopile foundation utilizes a single, generally large-diameter, foundation structural element to all the loads of a large above-surface structure. A transition piece is attached to the now deeply driven pile, an additional layer of even larger stone, up to 0.5 m diameter, is applied to the surface of the seabed for longer-term erosion protection. Rotary boring techniques allow larger diameter piles than any other piling method, Construction methods depend on the geology of the site, in particular, whether boring is to be undertaken in dry ground conditions or through water-saturated strata - i. e. wet boring. Casing is often used when the sides of the borehole are likely to slough off before concrete is poured, for end-bearing piles, drilling continues until the borehole has extended a sufficient depth into a sufficiently strong layer. Depending on site geology, this can be a layer, or hardpan, or other dense. Both the diameter of the pile and the depth of the pile are highly specific to the conditions, loading conditions. Pile depths may vary substantially across a project if the layer is not level. Drilled piles can be tested using a variety of methods to verify the pile integrity during installation, under-reamed piles have mechanically formed enlarged bases that are as much as 6 m in diameter. The form is that of a cone and can only be formed in stable soils
3.
Flood
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A flood is an overflow of water that submerges land which is usually dry. The European Union Floods Directive defines a flood as a covering by water of land not normally covered by water, in the sense of flowing water, the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods can also occur in rivers when the flow exceeds the capacity of the river channel. Floods often cause damage to homes and businesses if they are in the flood plains of rivers. Some floods develop slowly, while others such as floods, can develop in just a few minutes. Additionally, floods can be local, impacting a neighborhood or community, or very large, the word flood comes from the Old English flod, a word common to Germanic languages. Deluge myths are stories of a great flood sent by a deity or deities to destroy civilization as an act of divine retribution. Floods can happen on flat or low-lying areas when water is supplied by rainfall or snowmelt more rapidly than it can infiltrate or run off. The excess accumulates in place, sometimes to hazardous depths, surface soil can become saturated, which effectively stops infiltration, where the water table is shallow, such as a floodplain, or from intense rain from one or a series of storms. Infiltration also is slow to negligible through frozen ground, rock, concrete, paving, areal flooding begins in flat areas like floodplains and in local depressions not connected to a stream channel, because the velocity of overland flow depends on the surface slope. Endorheic basins may experience flooding during periods when precipitation exceeds evaporation. Floods occur in all types of river and stream channels, from the smallest ephemeral streams in humid zones to normally-dry channels in arid climates to the worlds largest rivers. When overland flow occurs on tilled fields, it can result in a flood where sediments are picked up by run off. Localized flooding may be caused or exacerbated by drainage obstructions such as landslides, ice, debris, slow-rising floods most commonly occur in large rivers with large catchment areas. The increase in flow may be the result of sustained rainfall, rapid snow melt, monsoons, the cause may be localized convective precipitation or sudden release from an upstream impoundment created behind a dam, landslide, or glacier. In one instance, a flood killed eight people enjoying the water on a Sunday afternoon at a popular waterfall in a narrow canyon. Without any observed rainfall, the rate increased from about 50 to 1,500 cubic feet per second in just one minute. Two larger floods occurred at the site within a week
4.
Lake Zurich
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Lake Zürich is a lake in Switzerland, extending southeast of the city of Zürich. The waters of the Lake of Zürich flow out of the lake at its north-west end, passing through the city of Zürich, however, the culminating point of the lakes drainage basin is the Tödi at 3,614 metres above sea level. No streams of importance flow into the lake besides the Linth, the Seedamm, a partially artificial causeway and bridge, crosses a narrow point of the lake carrying a railway line and road from Rapperswil to Pfäffikon. The eastern section of the lake is known as the Obersee, west of this dam lie the small islands of Lützelau and Ufenau, where in 1523 Ulrich von Hutten took refuge and died. Both shores are well cultivated and fertile, another touristic destination is the Au peninsula at the village of Au between Wädenswil and Horgen. To the east – separated by Zürichberg-Adlisberg, Forch and Pfannenstiel – are two lakes, Greifensee and Pfäffikersee. Zimmerberg and the Etzel regions lie to the west, administratively, Lake Zürich is split between the cantons of Zürich, St. Gallen and Schwyz. The lower lake, to the west of the Seedamm, is largely in the canton of Zürich, besides Bürkliplatz in Zürich and the Seedamm, there are no bridges across the lake. The Zürichsee-Schifffahrtsgesellschaft – the Lake Zürich Navigation Company – provides with its 17-passenger ships touristic services on Lake Zürich, there are a number of passenger ferry services, noticeably the Horgen–Meilen ferry, an auto ferry between Horgen and Meilen. Zürich, at the end of the lake, is the largest city on Lake Zürich. On the west shore are Rüschlikon, Thalwil, Horgen, Wädenswil, Richterswil, Pfäffikon, on the opposite shore are Küsnacht, Meilen, Stäfa, and Rapperswil-Jona with the medieval town of Rapperswil, whose castle is home to the Polish museum. Schmerikon is close to the east end of the lake, Lake Zürichs water is very clean and reaches, during summer, temperatures well beyond 20 °C. Swimming in the baths and beaches is very popular. Historically, the best weather for swimming has been late August, with August 28 typically having the nicest weather at around 5, the lakes water is purified and fed into Zürichs water system, it is potable. Because the lake has grown in size over time, the piles are now around 4 metres to 7 metres under the water level of 406 metres. Also on the area of about 40 square kilometres around Zürichsee, there also the settlements Greifensee–Storen/Wildsberg on Greifensee
5.
Neolithic
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It ended when metal tools became widespread. The Neolithic is a progression of behavioral and cultural characteristics and changes, including the use of wild and domestic crops, the beginning of the Neolithic culture is considered to be in the Levant about 10, 200–8800 BC. It developed directly from the Epipaleolithic Natufian culture in the region, whose people pioneered the use of wild cereals, which then evolved into true farming. The Natufian period was between 12,000 and 10,200 BC, and the so-called proto-Neolithic is now included in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic between 10,200 and 8800 BC. By 10, 200–8800 BC, farming communities arose in the Levant and spread to Asia Minor, North Africa, Mesopotamia is the site of the earliest developments of the Neolithic Revolution from around 10,000 BC. Early Neolithic farming was limited to a range of plants, both wild and domesticated, which included einkorn wheat, millet and spelt, and the keeping of dogs, sheep. By about 6900–6400 BC, it included domesticated cattle and pigs, the establishment of permanently or seasonally inhabited settlements, not all of these cultural elements characteristic of the Neolithic appeared everywhere in the same order, the earliest farming societies in the Near East did not use pottery. Early Japanese societies and other East Asian cultures used pottery before developing agriculture, unlike the Paleolithic, when more than one human species existed, only one human species reached the Neolithic. The term Neolithic derives from the Greek νέος néos, new and λίθος líthos, stone, the term was invented by Sir John Lubbock in 1865 as a refinement of the three-age system. In the Middle East, cultures identified as Neolithic began appearing in the 10th millennium BC, early development occurred in the Levant and from there spread eastwards and westwards. Neolithic cultures are attested in southeastern Anatolia and northern Mesopotamia by around 8000 BC. The total excavated area is more than 1,200 square yards, the Neolithic 1 period began roughly 10,000 years ago in the Levant. A temple area in southeastern Turkey at Göbekli Tepe dated around 9500 BC may be regarded as the beginning of the period. This site was developed by nomadic tribes, evidenced by the lack of permanent housing in the vicinity. At least seven stone circles, covering 25 acres, contain limestone pillars carved with animals, insects, Stone tools were used by perhaps as many as hundreds of people to create the pillars, which might have supported roofs. Other early PPNA sites dating to around 9500–9000 BC have been found in Jericho, Israel, Gilgal in the Jordan Valley, the start of Neolithic 1 overlaps the Tahunian and Heavy Neolithic periods to some degree. The major advance of Neolithic 1 was true farming, in the proto-Neolithic Natufian cultures, wild cereals were harvested, and perhaps early seed selection and re-seeding occurred. The grain was ground into flour, emmer wheat was domesticated, and animals were herded and domesticated
6.
Alps
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The mountains were formed over tens of millions of years as the African and Eurasian tectonic plates collided. Extreme shortening caused by the event resulted in marine sedimentary rocks rising by thrusting and folding into high mountain peaks such as Mont Blanc, Mont Blanc spans the French–Italian border, and at 4,810 m is the highest mountain in the Alps. The Alpine region area contains about a hundred peaks higher than 4000 metres, the altitude and size of the range affects the climate in Europe, in the mountains precipitation levels vary greatly and climatic conditions consist of distinct zones. Wildlife such as live in the higher peaks to elevations of 3,400 m. Evidence of human habitation in the Alps goes back to the Palaeolithic era, a mummified man, determined to be 5,000 years old, was discovered on a glacier at the Austrian–Italian border in 1991. By the 6th century BC, the Celtic La Tène culture was well established, Hannibal famously crossed the Alps with a herd of elephants, and the Romans had settlements in the region. In 1800 Napoleon crossed one of the passes with an army of 40,000. The 18th and 19th centuries saw an influx of naturalists, writers, in World War II, Adolf Hitler kept a base of operation in the Bavarian Alps throughout the war. The Alpine region has a cultural identity. The Winter Olympic Games have been hosted in the Swiss, French, at present, the region is home to 14 million people and has 120 million annual visitors. The English word Alps derives from the Latin Alpes, maurus Servius Honoratus, an ancient commentator of Virgil, says in his commentary that all high mountains are called Alpes by Celts. The term may be common to Italo-Celtic, because the Celtic languages have terms for high mountains derived from alp and this may be consistent with the theory that in Greek Alpes is a name of non-Indo-European origin. According to the Old English Dictionary, the Latin Alpes might possibly derive from a pre-Indo-European word *alb hill, Albania, a name not native to the region known as the country of Albania, has been used as a name for a number of mountainous areas across Europe. In Roman times, Albania was a name for the eastern Caucasus, in modern languages the term alp, alm, albe or alpe refers to a grazing pastures in the alpine regions below the glaciers, not the peaks. An alp refers to a mountain pasture where cows are taken to be grazed during the summer months and where hay barns can be found. The Alps are a crescent shaped geographic feature of central Europe that ranges in a 800 km arc from east to west and is 200 km in width, the mean height of the mountain peaks is 2.5 km. The range stretches from the Mediterranean Sea north above the Po basin, extending through France from Grenoble, the range continues onward toward Vienna, Austria, and east to the Adriatic Sea and Slovenia. To the south it dips into northern Italy and to the north extends to the border of Bavaria in Germany
7.
Po Valley
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The Po Valley, Po Plain, Plain of the Po, or Padan Plain is a major geographical feature of Italy. The flatlands of Veneto and Friuli are often considered apart since they do not drain into the Po, the plain is the surface of an in-filled system of ancient canyons extending from the Apennines in the south to the Alps in the north, including the northern Adriatic. Geo-political definitions of the valley depend on the defining authority, the Po Basin Water Board, authorized in 1989 by Law no. The law defines the Po basin as the territory from which rainwater or snow and glacier melt flows on the surface, the valley is crossed by a number of affluents running down from the Alps in the north and from the Apennines in the south. The Pos major affluents include the Tanaro, Scrivia, Trebbia, Panaro and Secchia in the south, Dora Riparia, Dora Baltea, Sesia, Ticino, Lambro, Adda, Oglio and Mincio in the north. Since the Messinian the system has been filling with sediment mainly from the older Apennines, the shoreline of the Adriatic depends on a balance between the sedimentation rate and isostatic factors. Until about 1950 the Po delta was prograding into the Adriatic, where the land surface now dips below sea level the river must run at a relative elevation between dikes. The Po Valley is often regarded as a syncline, or dip in the crust due to compression at the edges. Regardless of whether this concept accurately describes its geology, the valley is manifestly a sediment-filled trough, or virtual syncline, the upper areas of the Po valley take local names which reflect in their meanings their being modestly suited for farming. It varies from a few kilometres to as much as 50 km wide, the fontanili line is the outcrop, or intersection, of the anticlines water table with the surface at the edge of the bassa. The rock above the line is porous, surface water in the intermittent streams of the mountains tends to disappear below ground only to spring out again in the spring zone. The spring zone is called the middle valley. Surface runoff water is not of value to the valleys dense population for drinking and other immediate uses, being unreliable, often destructive and heavily polluted by sewage. Its main anthropic value is for power, irrigation and industrial transport. The cost of purifying it for consumption makes that process less feasible. The fresh drinking water comes from hundreds of thousands of wells concentrated especially in the fontanili zone, the older and smaller cities deriving from ancient times are still located there. The Po Valley has a subtropical climate. The conformation of the plain, surrounded by the Alps and the Apennines, the climate of the Po Valley becomes increasingly warmer and more humid farther south and east
8.
Ljubljana Marshes
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The Ljubljana Marshes, located south of Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia, is the largest marsh in the country. It covers 163 square kilometres or 0. 8% of the Slovene territory and it is administered by the municipalities of Borovnica, Brezovica, Ljubljana, Ig, Log-Dragomer, Škofljica and Vrhnika. The Ljubljana Marshes is a place of great biodiversity, since 2008, the major part of the Ljubljana Marshes, covering an area of 135 km2, has been protected as a landscape park. The most preserved parts had been already before protected as nature reserves, the Ljubljana Marsh was inhabited in prehistoric times, when it was a shallow lake. Prehistoric pile dwellings and the oldest wooden wheel in the world are among the most notable archeological findings from the marshland, since 2011, the area of pile dwellings near Ig has been protected as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The first road through the marsh, connecting Ljubljana to Studenec, was begun in 1825, the work was carried out under Mayor Johann Nepomuk Hradeczky and the provincial governor, Baron Joseph Camillo von Schmidburg. Emperor Francis I of Austria and Empress Caroline Augusta of Bavaria inspected the road in 1830, the marshland includes a number of hamlets that belong to the city of Ljubljana, Ilovica, Volar, Pri Strahu, Pri Maranzu, Kožuh, and Havptmance. Ilovica was settled relatively late, starting in 1838, and had six farms by 1860. Kožuh lies further south, and Havptmance east of Kožuh, Havptmance was already mentioned as a place in the 18th century and was settled in the 1870s, when peat extraction was a major economic activity. The name Havptmance probably refers to the fact that the governor had his hunting grounds in the area. The Ljubljana Marshes is very popular among balloonists, new, stricter protocol for pilots was introduced by the authorities to make balloon trips safe. Media related to Ljubljana Marshes at Wikimedia Commons
9.
Slovenia
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Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a nation state in southern Central Europe, located at the crossroads of main European cultural and trade routes. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and it covers 20,273 square kilometers and has a population of 2.06 million. It is a republic and a member of the United Nations, European Union. The capital and largest city is Ljubljana, additionally, the Dinaric Alps and the Pannonian Plain meet on the territory of Slovenia. The country, marked by a significant biological diversity, is one of the most water-rich in Europe, with a river network, a rich aquifer system. Over half of the territory is covered by forest, the human settlement of Slovenia is dispersed and uneven. Slovenia has historically been the crossroads of South Slavic, Germanic, Romance, although the population is not homogeneous, the majority is Slovene. South Slavic language Slovene is the language throughout the country. Slovenia is a largely secularized country, but its culture and identity have been influenced by Catholicism as well as Lutheranism. The economy of Slovenia is small, open, and export-oriented and has strongly influenced by international conditions. It has been hurt by the Eurozone crisis, started in the late 2000s. The main economic field is services, followed by industry and construction, Historically, the current territory of Slovenia was part of many different state formations, including the Roman Empire and the Holy Roman Empire, followed by the Habsburg Monarchy. In October 1918, the Slovenes exercised self-determination for the first time by co-founding the State of Slovenes, Croats, in December 1918, they merged with the Kingdom of Serbia into the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. During World War II, Slovenia was occupied and annexed by Germany, Italy, and Hungary, with a tiny area transferred to the Independent State of Croatia, in June 1991, after the introduction of multi-party representative democracy, Slovenia split from Yugoslavia and became an independent country. Present-day Slovenia has been inhabited since prehistoric times, and there is evidence of habitation from around 250,000 years ago. A pierced cave bear bone, dating from 43100 ±700 BP, in the 1920s and 1930s, artifacts belonging to the Cro-Magnon such as pierced bones, bone points, and needle were found by archaeologist Srečko Brodar in Potok Cave. It shows that wooden wheels appeared almost simultaneously in Mesopotamia and Europe, in the transition period between the Bronze age to the Iron age, the Urnfield culture flourished. Archaeological remains dating from the Hallstatt period have been found, particularly in southeastern Slovenia, among them a number of situlas in Novo Mesto, in the Iron Age, present-day Slovenia was inhabited by Illyrian and Celtic tribes until the 1st century BC
10.
Mondsee (lake)
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Mondsee is a lake in the Upper Austrian part of the Salzkammergut and near the larger Attersee. Its southwestern shore marks the border between the states of Upper Austria and Salzburg and also between the Northern Limestone Alps in the south and the Sandstone zone of the northern Alps, the Drachenwand at the southern shore of the lake is an impressive sight. Mondsee is one of Austrias last privately owned lakes, in August 2008, owner Nicolette Wächter owner announced it was up for sale. In 1864, remains of neolithic pile dwellings were discovered in the lake, two bacterial strains isolated from Lake Mondsee were recognized as new species and described as Polynucleobacter cosmopolitanus and Polynucleobacter duraquae, respectively. Both species are non-pathogenic and dwell in the lake as part of its bacterioplankton, in chapter six, Blofeld reports to the members of SMERSH that their German unit has successfully retrieved in secret Himmlers hoard of jewels from Lake Mondsee
