Kariba Dam
The Kariba Dam is a large dam in the Kariba Gorge of the Zambezi River along the border of Zimbabwe and Zambia in southern Africa.
Dam
The dam has a double curvature arch dam made of concrete and was built in 1955-1959. The construction of the actual dam was started on 6 November 1956. It is 128 m high and 617 m long at 1,032,000 m³ wall volume. The foundation is 24 m thick. The hydropower plant has a capacity of 1320 MW and supplies the copper belt of Zambia and Zimbabwe with 6400 (or 6700 ) GWh per year. The construction costs for the first phase with the Kariba South power plant cavern totaled 135 million U.S. $. The Kariba North power plant cavern was completed because of great political problems, until 1977. The total construction cost amounted to 480 million U.S. dollars. During construction, about 100 workers died in accidents.
The crest of the dam is used for a regional road, with the Zambezi River can be crossed.
Reservoir
The Karibastausee is - according to the list of the largest reservoirs of the Earth - the second in terms of volume and in terms of area fifth largest in the world. It is 280 km long, its average width is 18 km away and it is on average about 29 m deep. Its maximum depth is 97 m. It has a maximum of 5580 km ² water surface and a storage capacity of 180.60 km ³ ( = 180 600 000 000 m³). The catchment area is 520,000 km ² in size. T Lake Tanganyika sardines fished in the lake every year between 20,000 and 30,000. In addition, the company operates Innscor some crocodile farms here.
During the filling of the reservoir this was first called, after the reigning British queen, Elizabeth II Lake and was renamed later in " Kariba ".
Resettlements
When the Karibastausee was filled, had about 57,000 people living on the Zambezi, to be resettled. From 1960 to 1961, about 6,000 large animals and dozens of small trapped and also relocated because they were threatened by rising water in the operation " Noah ".
Earthquake
Since its fill of Karibastausee has caused numerous earthquakes due to its weight ( induced seismicity ). 20 of which were larger than magnitude 5 on the Richter scale, the largest was in 1963 with magnitude 5.8. Its epicenter was located 50 km north of the dam. Engineers and seismologists are still unsure of the exact mechanisms, but the effect of 180 billion tons of water weight is considerable. Bearing in mind, however, that, for example, already a heavy rain in the Alps triggers comparable earthquake. The Zambezi Valley even learned an earthquake of magnitude 6 on the Richter scale in 1910, before the dam was built. Systematic assessment of seismic movements, there is only since the construction of the dam. Such movements are normal, if a reservoir is filled. You lie down with time.