three gorges dam and china earthquake

Question

three gorges dam and china earthquake

msucog (Civil/Environmental)

(OP)

12 May 08 21:28

anyone know/heard whether the three gorges dam was damaged by the china earthquake? it's a little far from the recent eq but it's still in the region.

JAE (Structural) · Answer 1 · 2008-05-12 23:18:19

Here is the link to the USGS page with lots of shake maps:

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/eqinthenews/2008/us2008ryan/#maps

I saw that three gorges was in the area but haven't heard a peep that there was any trouble there.

JAE (Structural) · Answer 2 · 2008-05-12 23:21:48

Here is the text on the USGS site:

Quote:
At least 8,500 people killed. Felt widely in China. Also felt in parts of Thailand and Taiwan.

Tectonic Summary

The Sichuan earthquake of May 12, 2008, occurred as the result of motion on a northeast striking reverse fault or thrust fault on the northwestern margin of the Sichuan Basin. The earthquake's epicenter and focal-mechanism are consistent with it having occurred as the result of movement on the Longmenshan fault or a tectonically related fault. The earthquake reflects tectonic stresses resulting from the convergence of crustal material slowly moving from the high Tibetan Plateau, to the west, against strong crust underlying the Sichuan Basin and southeastern China.

On a continental scale, the seismicity of central and eastern Asia is a result of northward convergence of the India plate against the Eurasia plate with a velocity of about 50 mm/y. The convergence of the two plates is broadly accommodated by the uplift of the Asian highlands and by the motion of crustal material to the east away from the uplifted Tibetan Plateau.

The northwestern margin of the Sichuan Basin has previously experienced destructive earthquakes. The magnitude 7.5 earthquake of August 25, 1933, killed more than 9,300 people.

msucog (Civil/Environmental) · Answer 3 · 2008-05-13 07:12:09

huh, someone should be patting themselves on the back for this statement: "some researchers stated that earthquake activity was a greater threat"
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17674

according to this (below), it was designed to withstand a M7.0...i suppose it's rather difficult to accurately predict what the surrounding ground will do for such a massively unique "thing" even if the dam structure itself withstands the earthquake. since it wasn't a direct hit, maybe it didn't feel too much (but can you imagine what the man on top of the dam or even the people inside the dam were thinking when they felt the rumbling?).

i'm sure there's a lot of people looking at it due to its size and the implications of what happens if it fails. but being china, i'm not sure i/we would ever hear about it before something catastrophic would actually occur.
http://www.eoearth.org/article/Three_Gorges_Dam,_China
http://www.coe.montana.edu/ee/rmaher/ENGR125_FL06/Three%20Gorges%20Dam.pdf

msucog (Civil/Environmental) · Answer 4 · 2008-05-13 21:53:31

huh, well i feel better now and have absolutely no reason to question otherwise even though the article came out within 4 hours (if i did my timezone comparison correctly) after the earthquake occurred...
http://www.cnbc.com/id/24575189

MiketheEngineer (Structural) · Answer 5 · 2008-05-14 10:20:45

Do not know status of that dam - but the headlines this morning say thousands of army troops are rushing to re-enforce other dams that are in danger of collapse

msucog (Civil/Environmental) · Answer 6 · 2008-05-14 11:29:55

just saw that myself. i haven't seen mention of the three gorges yet but maybe the media will focus on that now that one dam has been noted to be in critical shape.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080514/ap_on_re_as/china_earthquake
"China says troops rush to plug dangerous cracks in dam "

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three gorges dam and china earthquake