Tangjiashan Lake
Encyclopedia
Tangjiashan Lake is a landslide dam
-created lake on the Jian River
, which was formed by the 2008 Sichuan earthquake
. Its name comes from the nearby mountain
Tangjiashan
. On May 24, 2008 the water level rose by 2 metres (7 ft) in a single day, reaching a depth of 23 metres (75 ft), just 29 metres (95 ft) below the barrier level. As of June 9, 2008 more than 250,000 people have been evacuated from Mianyang
in anticipation of the Tangjiashan Lake dam
bursting.
A similar lake in the same province that formed 222 years earlier caused one of the worst landslide-related disasters in history. On June 10, 1786 a landslide dam on Sichuan's Dadu River
, created by an earthquake ten days earlier, burst and caused a flood that extended 1400 km downstream and killed 100,000 people.
A "relatively strong" aftershock on June 8, 2008 shook the massive earthquake-formed lake that has been threatening to flood more than 1 million people and triggered landslides in surrounding mountains. Soldiers used digging equipment, explosives, and even missiles to blast channels in the dam in an attempt to relieve the pressure behind it.
The flow from the sluice channel cut into the dam increased dramatically on June 10, 2008, going from 300 cubic meters/second to 7000 cubic meters/second in the span of four hours. The muddy waters flowed rapidly downstream causing flooding in the evacuated town of Beichuan and overtopping of dams.
Landslide dam
A landslide dam, debris dam, or barrier lake is a natural damming of a river by some kind of mass wasting: landslide, debris flow, rock avalanche or volcano. If it is caused by earthquake, it may also be called a quake lake. Some landslide dams are as high as the largest existing artificial dam...
-created lake on the Jian River
Jian River
The Jian River is a river in China, the headwater stream of Tongkou River . The Tongkou joins the Fu River which is a tributary of the Yangtze. The Jian River flows through Beichuan Qiang Autonomous County, Sichuan. The 2008 Sichuan earthquake caused a landslide dam on the river which created...
, which was formed by the 2008 Sichuan earthquake
2008 Sichuan earthquake
The 2008 Sichuan earthquake or the Great Sichuan Earthquake was a deadly earthquake that measured at 8.0 Msand 7.9 Mw occurred at 14:28:01 CST...
. Its name comes from the nearby mountain
Mountain
Image:Himalaya_annotated.jpg|thumb|right|The Himalayan mountain range with Mount Everestrect 58 14 160 49 Chomo Lonzorect 200 28 335 52 Makalurect 378 24 566 45 Mount Everestrect 188 581 920 656 Tibetan Plateaurect 250 406 340 427 Rong River...
Tangjiashan
Mount Tangjia
Mount Tangjia is a mountain in Sichuan, People's Republic of China, 3.2 kilometres away from the county seat of Beichuan County.It overlooks the Jian River and Tangjiashan Lake, a landslide dam-created lake which was formed by the 2008 Sichuan earthquake....
. On May 24, 2008 the water level rose by 2 metres (7 ft) in a single day, reaching a depth of 23 metres (75 ft), just 29 metres (95 ft) below the barrier level. As of June 9, 2008 more than 250,000 people have been evacuated from Mianyang
Mianyang
Mianyang is the second largest prefecture-level city of Sichuan province in Southwest China. Its administrative area includes the city proper of Mianyang, with 985,586 inhabitants in the built up area , the county-level city of Jiangyou, and six counties, covering an area of over and a population...
in anticipation of the Tangjiashan Lake dam
Dam
A dam is a barrier that impounds water or underground streams. Dams generally serve the primary purpose of retaining water, while other structures such as floodgates or levees are used to manage or prevent water flow into specific land regions. Hydropower and pumped-storage hydroelectricity are...
bursting.
A similar lake in the same province that formed 222 years earlier caused one of the worst landslide-related disasters in history. On June 10, 1786 a landslide dam on Sichuan's Dadu River
Dadu River
The Dadu River , a tributary of the Min, also known as the Tatu River, is located in the Sichuan province of China. The river is noted for being crossed by the Luding Bridge, a historically important bridge...
, created by an earthquake ten days earlier, burst and caused a flood that extended 1400 km downstream and killed 100,000 people.
A "relatively strong" aftershock on June 8, 2008 shook the massive earthquake-formed lake that has been threatening to flood more than 1 million people and triggered landslides in surrounding mountains. Soldiers used digging equipment, explosives, and even missiles to blast channels in the dam in an attempt to relieve the pressure behind it.
The flow from the sluice channel cut into the dam increased dramatically on June 10, 2008, going from 300 cubic meters/second to 7000 cubic meters/second in the span of four hours. The muddy waters flowed rapidly downstream causing flooding in the evacuated town of Beichuan and overtopping of dams.