[emersonbiggins]

I have no idea of the particulars, other than the lowest point (-282 ft). Obviously, calculating the volume of space below sea level would be beneficial, but I don't have accurate drawings in front of me.

This idea is probably as crazy as the Bering Tunnel thread, but I know I'm not the first to come up with it. Discuss.

[Laughs_Last]

You mean to flood Death Valley to offset sea-rise? right.

Here's how to implement it. Build a pipeline from the ocean to the valley. Prime the pipe, it will then act like a siphon, drawing water off the ocean until they reach equilibrium.

[Zardoz]

Plenty of other places that are lower, and a couple of them are nearer the sea, as well:



I suppose eventually we'll try to fill them all up...

[SILENTTODD]

During the last ice age Death Valley and next door Panamint Valley were deep fresh water lakes, over 300 feet deep (the Mojave desert got a lot more rain then!).

Even today at the south end of Death Valley you can see how the shore line receeded on the sides of Shore Line Butte.

[Tanada]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('emersonbiggins', 'I') have no idea of the particulars, other than the lowest point (-282 ft). Obviously, calculating the volume of space below sea level would be beneficial, but I don't have accurate drawings in front of me. This idea is probably as crazy as the Bering Tunnel thread, but I know I'm not the first to come up with it. Discuss.

[steam_cannon]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Zardoz', 'P')lenty of other places that are lower, and a couple of them are nearer the sea, as well:...
I suppose eventually we'll try to fill them all up...

[Bas]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Laughs_Last', 'Y')ou mean to flood Death Valley to offset sea-rise? right.

Here's how to implement it. Build a pipeline from the ocean to the valley. Prime the pipe, it will then act like a siphon, drawing water off the ocean until they reach equilibrium.

[emersonbiggins]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Tanada', '
')If it is some scheme to reduce sea level rise it is literally not worth a drop in the bucket

[Tanada]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('emersonbiggins', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Tanada', '
')If it is some scheme to reduce sea level rise it is literally not worth a drop in the bucket

[SILENTTODD]

Oh, I didn’t realize you were suggesting Death Valley was going to fill up with Sea Water!

There are intervening areas of much higher elevation between Death Valley and the Sea. Example: Joshua Tree National Park, in between Death Valley and the Pacific Ocean is at an elevation of 3000 feet above Sea level.

California is not like Texas, it’s not mostly flat!

[pea-jay]

The only time in recent geologic history did a flooding lower sea levels was during the Messinian Salinity Crisis, a fascinating event some six million years ago. Back then, continental drift brought africa close enough to seal the straits of gibraltar which led to the near total evaporation of the Mediterranean Sea. With a depth of 2-3 miles and an enourmous reach, the world sea levels rose some 33 feet. When the barrier was breached, sea levels fell worldwide. Today there is no similar exposed oceanic basin available for flooding. Death Valley or the dead sea would be a drop in the bucket. You need real depth to before this works.

Interestingly enough, had humans evolved sooner or the crisis later, the early civilizations of the Middle east, S. Europe and Egypt would be impossible and the empty Med basin a barrier more formidable than the Sahara Desert. (Temps would have reached up to 185 at the lowest points)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messinian_salinity_crisis

[emersonbiggins]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('SILENTTODD', 'O')h, I didn’t realize you were suggesting Death Valley was going to fill up with Sea Water!

There are intervening areas of much higher elevation between Death Valley and the Sea. Example: Joshua Tree National Park, in between Death Valley and the Pacific Ocean is at an elevation of 3000 feet above Sea level.

California is not like Texas, it’s not mostly flat!

[Laughs_Last]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('emersonbiggins', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('SILENTTODD', 'O')h, I didn’t realize you were suggesting Death Valley was going to fill up with Sea Water!

There are intervening areas of much higher elevation between Death Valley and the Sea. Example: Joshua Tree National Park, in between Death Valley and the Pacific Ocean is at an elevation of 3000 feet above Sea level.

California is not like Texas, it’s not mostly flat!

[Kylon]

It might be a good public works project to both employ lots of people, and to alleviate water problems.

If Death Valley and Owens Valley and some other arid valleys filled up, then as they got hot, as the temperature rose, they would end up releasing large amounts of water via evaporation.

This would ultimately get trapped in the mountains (due to rain shadow), which would then become water which could be redirected for the purpose of watering the masses.

But if you were going to do it you'd probably want to do several arid valleys all along the way all at once, rather than just Death Valley.

[godzilla9]

the responses i have seen here all leave out the fact that flooding death valley would create a resort area where there is now little, and would be a boon to the tax base of the state, creating probably billions of dollars of wealth in real estate. it would also convert one of the hottest places on earth to something more temperate and heat-absorbing. every little bit helps, in regards to global warming, but the conversion of the arid desert into land useful for homes, recreation, etc, makes this an attractive idea. A pipe could be constructed in a few months to bring in the water, if the political will was there.

[pea-jay]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('godzilla9', 't')he responses i have seen here all leave out the fact that flooding death valley would create a resort area where there is now little, and would be a boon to the tax base of the state, creating probably billions of dollars of wealth in real estate. it would also convert one of the hottest places on earth to something more temperate and heat-absorbing. every little bit helps, in regards to global warming, but the conversion of the arid desert into land useful for homes, recreation, etc, makes this an attractive idea. A pipe could be constructed in a few months to bring in the water, if the political will was there.

[Chaparral]

Any discussion of flooding Death Valley or the Salton Sink with a link to the Pacific should take into account the failure of the Gulf of California to make Baja California and Sonora much wetter than they are. There are some odd mechanisms of temperature and pressure that seem to keep the rain clouds from forming over Baja in spite of being surrounded on both sides by water. A typical summer day on the Sea of Cortez will still average in the century mark only with higher humidity. It might be that the extra moisture is trapped by the Sierra Madre Occidental and if that is the case then the higher Basin and Range mountains would be the beneficiaries of such a project in DV. Perhaps the Hualapai Mtns above Kingman Az would get wetter if the entire Salton Sink was flooded from the Sea of Cortez.

I'd thought of blasting a canal from Eilat to the Dead Sea to make use of that God-forsaken land as well but in the end, if latitude and convection zones are what determine the climate in these places, all one would end up with would be a really nice marine ecosystem where I could take a 16 foot Hobie Cat and some fishing gear.

[pea-jay]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Chaparral', 'A')ny discussion of flooding Death Valley or the Salton Sink with a link to the Pacific should take into account the failure of the Gulf of California to make Baja California and Sonora much wetter than they are. There are some odd mechanisms of temperature and pressure that seem to keep the rain clouds from forming over Baja in spite of being surrounded on both sides by water. A typical summer day on the Sea of Cortez will still average in the century mark only with higher humidity. It might be that the extra moisture is trapped by the Sierra Madre Occidental and if that is the case then the higher Basin and Range mountains would be the beneficiaries of such a project in DV. Perhaps the Hualapai Mtns above Kingman Az would get wetter if the entire Salton Sink was flooded from the Sea of Cortez.

I'd thought of blasting a canal from Eilat to the Dead Sea to make use of that God-forsaken land as well but in the end, if latitude and convection zones are what determine the climate in these places, all one would end up with would be a really nice marine ecosystem where I could take a 16 foot Hobie Cat and some fishing gear.

[frankthetank]

Hmmm. I've got a few thoughts on the subject.

Overview

June 8, 2007


1. WIKI Salton Sea

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')he Salton Sea as it exists today is the aftermath of a man-made environmental disaster that occurred between 1905 and 1907, when improper management of irrigation routes from the Colorado River caused the river to flow unchecked into the Salton Sink for some two years.

Early efforts to provide irrigation to the fertile Imperial Valley region had culminated in the creation of the Imperial Canal, leading from intakes on the Colorado River to the below-sea-level Imperial Valley. As this waterway became blocked by the heavy load of silt deposited by the river, the California Development Company, which was responsible for the irrigation system, decided to build a diversion channel on Mexican territory, out of reach of the then-new U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. However, the ill-advised new route crossed unstable river delta that was regularly reshaped during floods of the Colorado, and the CDC did not have the funds necessary to construct a proper headgate system at the intake from the Colorado river to prevent accidents if the river flooded.

In 1905, massive flooding of some 150,000 cfs on the Colorado overran the diversion channel and diverted the river into the Salton Sink. Cutback erosion of the soft soil in the channel deepened it and created a steadily-growing waterfall that worked its way back towards the location of the river intake, with the falls at one point reaching 100 feet in height. Scientists worried that if the cutback reached the river itself, the river would be permanently diverted into the Salton Sink, and the cutback might even continue up through Yuma, Arizona. The Southern Pacific Railroad, which had substantial business interests in the region, spent some three million dollars (under intense government pressure) over two years to stop the river's flow into the Salton Sink. In 1907 these efforts finally succeeded, and the river resumed its natural course towards the Gulf of California.

The residual water from this ecological catastrophe formed the Salton Sea of today, and continuing man-made agricultural runoff has been largely responsible for sustaining it. This event also created the New River and Alamo River. As the basin filled, the town of Salton, a Southern Pacific Railroad siding and parts of the Torres-Martinez Indian Reservation land were submerged.

The Salton Sea disaster was a significant part of the impetus behind the construction of dams on the Colorado River, notably Hoover Dam. One purpose of the dams was to help prevent the type of unchecked flooding that had nearly destroyed the Imperial Valley.

[Mircea]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('emersonbiggins', 'I') have no idea of the particulars, other than the lowest point (-282 ft). Obviously, calculating the volume of space below sea level would be beneficial, but I don't have accurate drawings in front of me.

This idea is probably as crazy as the Bering Tunnel thread, but I know I'm not the first to come up with it. Discuss.