David K Music Ringtones: What are the environmental effects if an .

Question by David K: What are the environmental effects if an earthquake destroys a dam?
If there are two dams, one (Ryan dam) further downhill and the other (Rainbow dam) upstream from the first, what would the environmental effects be on the contrast between the two dams? Furthermore, what would return to a third dam (Morony dam) that is downhill from Ryan Dam?

Best answer:

Answer by Mark V
I cannot do this question specifically, because I`m not only familiar with those damns, the river that they dam, the terrain that they`re built in, or how far they are, and what position their floodplain is from civilization.

But as a general rule -

If a dam is immediately taken away (however it`s done), the seed of water behind the dam will be directly released.The potential energy of the stored water (which is a lot, bigger and bigger as the reservoir gets bigger, especially as it gets taller) is quickly converted into kinetic energy in the kind of water rushing down river.This will be very powerful, and very fast, and so it will crush out the river channel, making it deeper and wider (this won`t just be done by water, but the ability of the water will pick up large rocks and throw them along, which will help gouge out the river bottom).Depending on the size of that dam, the effects could be catastrophic to the immediate environment, wiping out fish, wiping out animals and plants near the banks of the river.

Downstream, (again, this depends on the size of the low dam) the result of the water could be enough to grow the second dam, which would merely add more force, and more energy to the water running downstream, making the effects even bigger (the potential to break the second dam lies in the size and work of the second damn`s reservoir - if there is a long reservoir behind the damn, that will attend to better "get" the force, which could save the second dam).

If that second dam breaks, then it will press out the riverbed even worse, as I already stated, and just like the second dam, could potentially destroy the third dam.It could theoretically be an enormous "domino effect" which would more than likely end up effecting human cities downstream.

There is a link below to explain about the end cause by the failure of the Teton Dam.It will give you lots of interesting information.

What do you think? Answer below!