Turpentine (which is also called spirit of turpentine, oil of turpentine, terebenthine, terebenthene, terebinthine and, colloquially, turps) is a fluid obtained by the distillation of resin harvested from living trees, mainly pines. Principally used as a specialized solvent, it is also a source of material for organic syntheses.
Outdoor recreation or outdoor activity refers to recreation done outside, most commonly in natural settings. The activities that encompass outdoor recreation vary depending on the physical environment they are being carried out in. These activities can include fishing, hunting, backpacking, walking and horseback riding — and can be completed individually or collectively. Outdoor recreation is a broad concept that encompasses a varying range of activities and landscapes.
Outdoor recreation is typically pursued for purposes of physical exercise, general wellbeing, and spiritual renewal. While a wide variety of outdoor recreational activities can be classified as sports, they do not all demand that a participant be an athlete. Rather, it is the collectivist idea that is at the fore in outdoor recreation, as outdoor recreation does not necessarily encompass the same degree of competitiveness or rivalry that is embodied in sporting matches or championships. Competition generally is less stressed than in organized individual or team sports. When the activity involves exceptional excitement, physical challenge, or risk, it is sometimes referred to as "adventure recreation" or "adventure training", rather than an extreme sport.
In the United States, a Shot Crew, officially known as an Interagency Hotshot Crew (IHC), is a team of 20-22 elite wildland firefighters that mainly respond to large, high-priority fires across the country and abroad. They are assigned to work the most challenging parts of the fire and are considered strategic and tactical wildland fire experts. Hotshot crews are considered the most highly trained, skilled and experienced wildland firefighters, along with smokejumpers. They are qualified to provide leadership for initial-attack and extended-attack on wildland fires. Hotshots are trained and equipped to work in remote areas for extended periods of time with minimal logistical support. They are organized by agencies such as the United States Forest Service, National Park Service, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Bureau of Land Management, and state/county agencies; the National Interagency Fire Center coordinates hotshot crews on the federal level. (Full article...)
In current usage, the term remote sensing generally refers to the use of satellite- or aircraft-based sensor technologies to detect and classify objects on Earth. It includes the surface and the atmosphere and oceans, based on propagated signals (e.g. electromagnetic radiation). It may be split into "active" remote sensing (when a signal is emitted by a satellite or aircraft to the object and its reflection is detected by the sensor) and "passive" remote sensing (when the reflection of sunlight is detected by the sensor). (Full article...)
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The Russian forestry industry is a set of Russian industries related to wood harvesting and processing. As one of the oldest sectors in the country's economy, Russia's timber industry continues to bring in about $20 billion per year. Russia has more than a fifth of the world's forests, making it the largest forest country in the world. According to data for 2015, the total forest area has exceeded 885 million hectares, representing 45% of the total area of the country. The stock of wood in the area was 82 billion cubic meters. However in 2023 academics complained that not enough information had been published.
A significant proportion of revenue from the industry is generated by the export of raw materials from sawing logs. For a long time Russia was the main supplier of raw wood material in Europe. However, according to a 2012 study by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the Government of the Russian Federation, the potential of Russian forests is underutilized and Russia's share of the global trade in forest products is less than 4%.
Russia's timber industry sectors, as part of the Russia's total industrial production, are seventh place in terms of production and fifth place in terms of national exports. The main product of the Russia's forest industry is timber, whose share among the total volume of exported timber is approximately 75 - 80%. The logging industry is considered to be the basic direction of the whole forest complex. By the end of the 1980s, the USSR ranked second in the world in the export of wood, second only to the United States. As a result of numerous economic changes throughout the past decade, Russia has moved between 6th and 7th place worldwide in this index.
All data is due to be recorded in the national forest inventory accounting system by 2025. (Full article...)
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The United Kingdom, being in the British Isles, is ideal for tree growth, thanks to its mild winters, plentiful rainfall, fertile soil and hill-sheltered topography. In the absence of people, much of Great Britain would be covered with mature oaks as well as savannah-type of plains, except for Scotland. Although conditions for forestry are good, trees face threats from fungi, parasites and pests. Nowadays, about 13% of Britain's land surface is wooded. European countries average 39%, but this varies widely from 1% (Malta) to 66% (Finland). As of 2021, government plans call for 30,000 hectares to be reforested each year.[needs update] Efforts to reach these targets have attracted criticism for planting non-native trees, or trees that are out of place for their surroundings, leading to ecological changes.
The UK's supply of timber was depleted during the First and Second World Wars, when imports were difficult, and the forested area bottomed out at under 5% of Britain's land surface in 1919. That year, the Forestry Commission was established to produce a strategic reserve of timber.
Of the 31,380 square kilometres (12,120 sq mi) of forest in Britain, around 30% is publicly owned and 70% is in the private sector. More than 40,000 people work on this land. Conifers account for around one half (51%) of the UK woodland area, although this proportion varies from around one quarter (26%) in England to around three quarters (74%) in Scotland. Britain's native tree flora comprises 32 species, of which 29 are broadleaves.
The UK's industry and populace uses at least 50 million tonnes of timber a year. More than 75% of this is softwood, and British forests cannot supply the demand; in fact, less than 10% of the timber used in Britain is home-grown. Paper and paper products make up more than half the wood consumed in Britain by volume. (Full article...)
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The Biltmore stick is a tool used by foresters to estimate tree trunk diameter at breast height. The tool very often includes a hypsometer scale to estimate height as well. It looks much like an everyday yardstick. With practice a Biltmore stick is considered to be exceptionally accurate, often within half an inch on diameters. Some foresters use the tool regularly, however, many prefer to use more accurate tools such as a diameter tape to measure diameter at breast height (DBH) and a clinometer to measure height. On the other end of the spectrum, some foresters consider the use of a Biltmore stick to be no more accurate than their own visual estimates (based on experience estimating the height and DBH of trees), and make it practice for their surveys to be largely completed in this manner.
The Biltmore stick uses the principle of similar triangles. Similar triangles involve using identical angles but different side lengths. (Full article...)
Ecoforestry has been defined as selection forestry or restoration forestry. The main idea of ecoforestry is to maintain or restore the forest to standards where the forest may still be harvested for products on a sustainable basis. Ecoforestry is forestry that emphasizes holistic practices which strive to protect and restore ecosystems rather than maximize economic productivity. Sustainability of the forest also comes with uncertainties. There are other factors that may affect the forest furthermore than that of the harvesting. There are internal conditions such as effects of soil compaction, tree damage, disease, fire, and blow down that also directly affect the ecosystem. These factors have to be taken into account when determining the sustainability of a forest. If these factors are added to the harvesting and production that comes out of the forest, then the forest will become less likely to survive, and will then become less sustainable.
Since the forest is considered an ecosystem, it is dependent on all of the living and non-living factors within itself. This is a major part of why the forest needs to be sustainable before it is harvested. For example, a tree, by way of photosynthesis, converts sunlight to sugars for respiration to keep the tree alive. The remains of the converted sugars is left in roots for consumption by the organisms surrounding the tree in the habitat. This shows the productivity of an ecosystem with its inhabitants. Productivity within the ecosystem cannot come to fruition unless the forest is sustainable enough to be harvested. If most individual organisms of the ecosystem vanish, the ecosystem itself is at risk. Once that happens, there is no longer any forest to harvest from. The overall productivity of a system can be found in an equation where the Net Primary Production, or NPP, is equal to the Gross Primary Production, or GPP, minus the Respiration, or R. The formula is the NPP = GPP - R. The NPP is the overall efficiency of the plants in the ecosystem. Through having a constant efficiency in NPP, the ecosystem is then more sustainable. The GPP refers to the rate of energy stored by photosynthesis in plants. The R refers to the maintenance and reproduction of plants from the energy expended.
Ecoforestry has many principles within the existence of itself. It covers sustainable development and the fair harvesting of the organisms living within the forest ecosystem. There have been many proposals of principles outlined for ecoforestry. They are covered over books, articles, and environmental agencies. All of the principles relate to the idea that in ecoforestry, less should be harvested, and diversity must be managed. Through harvesting less, there is enough biomass left in the forest, so that the forest may stay healthy and still stay maintained. It will grow at a sustainable level annually, and thus it will be able to still be harvested the following year. Through management of the diversity, species may cohabitate in an ecosystem where the forest may feed off of other species in its growth and production. The Principles of Ecoforestry may be found below. (Full article...)
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A tree plantation, forest plantation, plantation forest, timber plantation or tree farm is a forest planted for high volume production of wood, usually by planting one type of tree as a monoculture forest. The term tree farm also is used to refer to tree nurseries and Christmas tree farms.
Plantation forestry can produce a high volume of wood in a short period of time. Plantations are grown by state forestry authorities (for example, the Forestry Commission in Britain) and/or the paper and wood industries and other private landowners (such as Weyerhaeuser, Rayonier and Sierra Pacific Industries in the United States or Asia Pulp & Paper in Indonesia). Christmas trees are often grown on plantations, and in southern and southeastern Asia, teak plantations have recently replaced the natural forest. Industrial plantations are actively managed for the commercial production of forest products. Industrial plantations are usually large-scale. Individual blocks are usually even-aged and often consist of just one or two species. These species can be exotic or indigenous. The plants used for the plantation are often genetically altered for desired traits such as growth and resistance to pests and diseases in general and specific traits, for example in the case of timber species, volumic wood production and stem straightness. Forest genetic resources are the basis for genetic alteration. Selected individuals grown in seed orchards are a good source for seeds to develop adequate planting material.
Wood production on a tree plantation is generally higher than that of natural forests. While forests managed for wood production commonly yield between 1 and 3 cubic meters per hectare per year, plantations of fast-growing species commonly yield between 20 and 30 cubic meters or more per hectare annually; a Grand Fir plantation in Scotland has a growth rate of 34 cubic meters per hectare per year, and Monterey Pine plantations in southern Australia can yield up to 40 cubic meters per hectare per year. In 2000, while plantations accounted for 5% of global forest, it is estimated that they supplied about 35% of the world's roundwood.
The highest share of plantation forest is in South America, where this forest type represents 99 percent of the total planted-forest area and 2 percent of the total forest area. The lowest share of plantation forest is in Europe, where it represents 6 percent of the planted forest estate and 0.4 percent of the total forest area. Globally, 44 percent of plantation forests are composed mainly of introduced species. There are large differences between regions: for example, plantation forests in North and Central America mostly comprise native species and those in South America consist almost entirely of introduced species. (Full article...)
Temperate coniferous forests are common in the coastal areas of regions that have mild winters and heavy rainfall, or inland in drier climates or montane areas. Many species of trees inhabit these forests including pine, cedar, fir, and redwood. The understory also contains a wide variety of herbaceous and shrub species. Temperate coniferous forests sustain the highest levels of biomass in any terrestrial ecosystem and are notable for trees of massive proportions in temperate rainforest regions.
Structurally, these forests are rather simple, consisting of 2 layers generally: an overstory and understory. However, some forests may support a layer of shrubs. Pine forests support an herbaceous ground layer that may be dominated by grasses and forbs that lend themselves to ecologically important wildfires. In contrast, the moist conditions found in temperate rain forests favor the dominance by ferns and some forbs.
Forest communities dominated by huge trees (e.g., giant sequoia, Sequoiadendron gigantea; redwood, Sequoia sempervirens), unusual ecological phenomena, occur in western North America, southwestern South America, as well as in the Australasian region in such areas as southeastern Australia and northern New Zealand.
The Klamath-Siskiyou ecoregion of western North America harbors diverse and unusual assemblages and displays notable endemism for a number of plant and animal taxa. (Full article...)
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The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006, is a key piece of forest legislation passed in India on 18 December 2006. It has also been called the Forest Rights Act, the Tribal Rights Act, the Tribal Bill, and the Tribal Land Act. The law concerns the rights of forest-dwelling communities to land and other resources, denied to them over decades as a result of the continuance of colonial forest laws in India.
Supporters of the Act claim that it will redress the "historical injustice" committed against forest dwellers, while including provisions for making conservation more effective and more transparent. The demand for the law has seen massive national demonstrations involving hundreds of thousands of people.
However, the law has also been the subject of considerable controversy in India. Opponents of the law claim it will lead to massive forest destruction and should be repealed.
A little over one year after it was passed, the Act was notified into force on 31 December 2007. On 1 January 2008, this was followed by the notification of the Rules framed by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs to supplement the procedural aspects of the Act. (Full article...)
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A geographic information system (GIS) consists of integrated computer hardware and software that store, manage, analyze, edit, output, and visualizegeographic data. Much of this often happens within a spatial database; however, this is not essential to meet the definition of a GIS. In a broader sense, one may consider such a system also to include human users and support staff, procedures and workflows, the body of knowledge of relevant concepts and methods, and institutional organizations.
The uncounted plural, geographic information systems, also abbreviated GIS, is the most common term for the industry and profession concerned with these systems. It is roughly synonymous with geoinformatics. The academic discipline that studies these systems and their underlying geographic principles, may also be abbreviated as GIS, but the unambiguous GIScience is more common. GIScience is often considered a subdiscipline of geography within the branch of technical geography.
Geographic information systems are utilized in multiple technologies, processes, techniques and methods. They are attached to various operations and numerous applications, that relate to: engineering, planning, management, transport/logistics, insurance, telecommunications, and business. For this reason, GIS and location intelligence applications are at the foundation of location-enabled services, which rely on geographic analysis and visualization.
GIS provides the capability to relate previously unrelated information, through the use of location as the "key index variable". Locations and extents that are found in the Earth's spacetime are able to be recorded through the date and time of occurrence, along with x, y, and z coordinates; representing, longitude (x), latitude (y), and elevation (z). All Earth-based, spatial–temporal, location and extent references should be relatable to one another, and ultimately, to a "real" physical location or extent. This key characteristic of GIS has begun to open new avenues of scientific inquiry and studies. (Full article...)
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Afforestation is the establishment of a forest or stand of trees in an area where there was no recent tree cover. In comparison, reforestation means re-establishing forest that have either been cut down or lost due to natural causes, such as fire, storm, etc. There are three types of afforestation: Natural regeneration, agroforestry and tree plantations. Afforestation has many benefits. In the context of climate change, afforestation can be helpful for climate change mitigation through the route of carbon sequestration. Afforestation can also improve the local climate through increased rainfall and by being a barrier against high winds. The additional trees can also prevent or reduce topsoil erosion (from water and wind), floods and landslides. Finally, additional trees can be a habitat for wildlife, and provide employment and wood products.
An essential aspect of successful afforestation efforts lies in the careful selection of tree species that are well-suited to the local climate and soil conditions. By choosing appropriate species, afforested areas can better withstand the impacts of climate change.
Earth offers enough room to plant an additional 0.9 billion ha of tree canopy cover. Planting and protecting them would sequester 205 billion tons of carbon which is about 20 years of current global carbon emissions. This level of sequestration would represent about 25% of the atmosphere's current carbon pool.
Australia, Canada, China, India, Israel, United States and Europe have afforestation programs to increase carbon dioxide removal in forests and in some cases to reduce desertification. However, afforestation of grasslands and savanna areas can be problematic and scientifically flawed. Carbon sequestration estimates in those areas often do not include the full amount of carbon reductions in soils and slowing tree growth over time. Also afforestation can negatively affect biodiversity through increasing fragmentation and edge effects for the habitat remaining outside the planted area. (Full article...)
This is the first law to have the five major uses of national forests contained in one law equally, with no use greater than any other.
By the 1950s, the national forests no longer held enough resources to meet the growing needs of an increasing population and expanding economy. The U.S. Forest Service had operated within broad authorities since Gifford Pinchot's time as Chief Forester. Now, for the first time the agency had a specific congressional directive which stipulated that timber sales were not in all cases to be the limiting factor.
MUSYA defines the terms "multiple use" and "sustained yield" as follows:
Multiple use - the "management of all the various renewable surface resources of the national forests so that they are utilized in the combination that will best meet the needs of the American people ...."
Sustained yield - "the achievement and maintenance in perpetuity of a high-level annual or regular periodic output of the various renewable resources of the national forests without impairment of the productivity of the land."
The 1960 law was amended by the Omnibus Parks and Public Lands Management Act of 1996. (Full article...)
In this veneering process, large sheets of veneer are produced on a machine similar to a lathe. These are dyed, spread with suitable adhesives, and then compressed and bonded into thick (typically 70 cm) logs, which are then sliced to create the end product. If the sheets are compressed between platens with an undulating surface, the slice will cross several layers to produce a patterned effect. Many different designs can be obtained by varying the platens, the dyes and the stacking order.
Although the product may be considered sustainable, multilaminar veneer does have a relatively high carbon footprint due to the numerous dyeing, laminating, pressing, and slicing operations. (Full article...)
Sometimes terms which refer to branches of soil science, such as pedology (formation, chemistry, morphology, and classification of soil) and edaphology (how soils interact with living things, especially plants), are used as if synonymous with soil science. The diversity of names associated with this discipline is related to the various associations concerned. Indeed, engineers, agronomists, chemists, geologists, physical geographers, ecologists, biologists, microbiologists, silviculturists, sanitarians, archaeologists, and specialists in regional planning, all contribute to further knowledge of soils and the advancement of the soil sciences.
Charcoal is a lightweight black carbon residue produced by strongly heating wood (or other animal and plant materials) in minimal oxygen to remove all water and volatile constituents. In the traditional version of this pyrolysis process, called charcoal burning, often by forming a charcoal kiln, the heat is supplied by burning part of the starting material itself, with a limited supply of oxygen. The material can also be heated in a closed retort. Modern charcoal briquettes used for outdoor cooking may contain many other additives, e.g. coal.
Charcoal (wooden coal) is a solid substance resulting from the dry distillation of wood without oxygen. It is used in the production of ferrous and non-ferrous metals, activated carbon, and also as a household fuel.
The history of wood charcoal production spans ancient times, rooted in the abundance of wood in various regions. The process typically involves stacking wood billets to form a conical pile, allowing air to enter through openings at the bottom, and igniting the pile gradually. Charcoal burners, skilled professionals tasked with managing the delicate operation, often lived in isolation to tend their wood piles. Throughout history, the extensive production of charcoal has been a significant contributor to deforestation, particularly in regions like Central Europe. However, various management practices, such as coppicing, aimed to maintain a steady supply of wood for charcoal production. The scarcity of easily accessible wood resources eventually led to the transition to fossil fuel equivalents like coal.
Modern methods of charcoal production involve carbonizing wood in retorts, yielding higher efficiencies compared to traditional kilning methods. The properties of charcoal depend on factors such as the material charred and the temperature of carbonization.
Charcoal finds diverse applications, including metallurgical fuel in iron and steel production, industrial fuel, cooking and heating fuel, reducing agent in chemical processes, and as a raw material in pyrotechnics. It is also utilized in cosmetics, horticulture, animal husbandry, medicine, and environmental sustainability efforts, such as carbon sequestration.
However, the production and utilization of charcoal can have adverse environmental impacts, including deforestation and emissions. Illegal and unregulated charcoal production, particularly in regions like South America and Africa, poses significant challenges to environmental conservation efforts. (Full article...)
Agroforestry can be practiced for economic, environmental, and social benefits, and can be part of sustainable agriculture. Apart from production, benefits from agroforestry include improved farm productivity, healthier environments, reduction of risk for farmers, beauty and aesthetics, increased farm profits, reduced soil erosion, creating wildlife habitat, less pollution, managing animal waste, increased biodiversity, improved soil structure, and carbon sequestration.
Agroforestry practices are especially prevalent in the tropics, especially in subsistence smallholdings areas, with particular importance in sub-Saharan Africa. Due to its multiple benefits, for instance in nutrient cycle benefits and potential for mitigating droughts, it has been adopted in the USA and Europe. (Full article...)
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The Royal Forestry Society was established in 1882 in Northumberland, England. Originally known as the English Arboricultural Society, the organisation was founded by forester Henry Clark and nurseryman John W Robson, both from Hexham. The Society's first President was John Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham. In 1905 it was granted a Royal Charter by King Edward VII and was renamed the Royal English Arboricultural Society. It was renamed The Royal English Forestry Society in 1931, and in 1962 its title was changed to the Royal Forestry Society of England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Lumber is wood that has been processed into uniform and useful sizes (dimensional lumber), including beams and planks or boards. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, window frames). Lumber has many uses beyond home building. Lumber is referred to as timber in the United Kingdom, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand, while in other parts of the world (mainly the United States and Canada) the term timber refers specifically to unprocessed wood fiber, such as cut logs or standing trees that have yet to be cut.
Lumber may be supplied either rough-sawn, or surfaced on one or more of its faces. Rough lumber is the raw material for furniture-making, and manufacture of other items requiring cutting and shaping. It is available in many species, including hardwoods and softwoods, such as white pine and red pine, because of their low cost.
Finished lumber is supplied in standard sizes, mostly for the construction industry – primarily softwood, from coniferous species, including pine, fir and spruce (collectively spruce-pine-fir), cedar, and hemlock, but also some hardwood, for high-grade flooring. It is more commonly made from softwood than hardwoods, and 80% of lumber comes from softwood. (Full article...)
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A skidder is any type of heavy vehicle used in a logging operation for pulling cut trees out of a forest in a process called "skidding", in which the logs are transported from the cutting site to a landing. There they are loaded onto trucks (or in times past, railroad cars or flumes), and sent to the mill. One exception is that in the early days of logging, when distances from the timberline to the mill were shorter, the landing stage was omitted altogether, and the "skidder" would have been used as the main road vehicle, in place of the trucks, railroad, or flume. Modern forms of skidders can pull trees with a cable and winch (cable skidder), just like the old steam donkeys, or with a hydraulic grapple either on boom (grapple skidder) or on the back of the frame (clambunk skidder). (Full article...)
Aerial seeding is considered a broadcast method of seeding. It is often used to spread different grasses and legumes to large areas of land that are in need of vegetative cover after fires. Large wildfires can destroy large areas of plant life resulting in erosion hazards. Aerial seeding may quickly and effectively reduce erosion hazards and suppress growth of invasive plant species. Aerial seeding is an alternative to other seeding methods where terrain is extremely rocky or at high elevations or otherwise inaccessible. Problems with direct broadcast include germination, pests and seed predation by rodents or other wild animals. Transplanting seedlings from a plant nursery to the field is a more effective sowing technique. Aerial seeding has a low yield and require 25% to 50% more seeds than drilled seeding to achieve the same results.
Aerial seeding is also often used to plant cover crops. Some plants often seeded by this method are perennial rye (Timothy, Red Fescue, Red Top, Bluegrass), Sudan grass, soy beans, buckwheat, hairy vetch, corn, cereal rye, winter wheat, oats, mammoth or medium red clover, sweet clover, berseem clover and crimson clover (Timothy). (Full article...)
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Illegal logging is the harvest, transportation, purchase, or sale of timber in violation of laws. The harvesting procedure itself may be illegal, including using corrupt means to gain access to forests; extraction without permission, or from a protected area; the cutting down of protected species; or the extraction of timber in excess of agreed limits. Illegal logging is a driving force for a number of environmental issues such as deforestation, soil erosion and biodiversity loss which can drive larger-scale environmental crises such as climate change and other forms of environmental degradation.
Illegality may also occur during transport, such as illegal processing and export (through fraudulent declaration to customs); the avoidance of taxes and other charges, and fraudulent certification. These acts are often referred to as "wood laundering".
Illegal logging is driven by a number of economic forces, such as demand for raw materials, land grabbing and demand for pasture for cattle. Regulation and prevention can happen at both the supply size, with better enforcement of environmental protections, and at the demand side, such as an increasing regulation of trade as part of the international lumber Industry. (Full article...)
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The French National School of Forestry (École nationale des eaux et forêts, or National School of Water Resources and Forestry), established in Nancy, France, in 1824, was the first national training institute for foresters in France, and a premier early school of forestry in Europe and globally.
In 1964, it was merged into the National School of Rural Engineering, Water Resources and Forestry (École nationale du génie rural, des eaux et des forêts, or ENGREF), which in turn became part of AgroParisTech (Institut des sciences et industries du vivant et de l’environnement, or Paris Institute of Technology for Life, Food and Environmental Sciences) in 2006. (Full article...)
Insects, diseases and severe weather events damaged about 40 million ha of forests in 2015, mainly in the temperate and boreal domains. (Full article...)
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Bucking is the process of cutting a felled and delimbed tree into logs. Significant value can be lost by sub-optimal bucking because logs destined for plywood, lumber, and pulp each have their own value and specifications for length, diameter, and defects. Cutting from the top down is overbucking and from the bottom up is underbucking.
A log flume or lumber flume is a watertight flume constructed to transport lumber and logs down mountainous terrain using flowing water. Flumes replaced horse- or oxen-drawn carriages on dangerous mountain trails in the late 19th century. Logging operations preferred flumes whenever a reliable source of water was available. Flumes were cheaper to build and operate than logging railroads. They could span long distances across chasms with more lightweight trestles.
The British timber trade was importation of timber from the Baltic, and later North America, by the British. During the Middle Ages and Stuart period, Great Britain had large domestic supplies of timber, especially valuable were the famous British oaks. This timber formed the backbone of many industries such as shipbuilding but not iron smelting which used charcoal derived from the wood of various trees. (Full article...)
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Site index is a term used in forestry to describe the potential for foresttrees to grow at a particular location or "site". Site is defined as "The average age of dominate and/or codominate trees of an even-aged, undisturbed site of intolerant trees at a base age"; furthermore, the word site is used in forestry to refer to a distinct area where trees are found. Site index is used to measure the productivity of the site and the management options for that site and reports the height of dominant and co-dominant trees in a stand at a base age such as 25, 50 and 100 years. For example, a red oak with an age of 50 years and a height of 70 feet (21 m) will have a site index of 70. Site index is species specific. Common methods used to determine site index are based on tree height, plant composition and the use of soil maps. (Full article...)
It was established to represent forestry and wood-using businesses, from nurseries and growers, to wood processing end-users. It was created to represent the views of the industry to the Forestry Commission and the policy makers within the relevant legislatures and executives. (Full article...)
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Forestry in TasmaniaAustralia has been conducted since early European settlement. The logging of old growth native forests in the state has been opposed by environmentalists and others via means such as lobbying, legislation and blockades. (Full article...)
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One of Bhutan's significant natural resources in the late twentieth century was its rich forests and natural vegetation. Bhutan's location in the eastern Himalayas, with its subtropical plains and alpine terrain, gives it more rainfall than its neighbors to the west, a factor greatly facilitating forest growth. The forests contain numerous deciduous and evergreen species, ranging from tropical hardwoods to predominantly oak and pine forests. (Full article...)
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Pinus ponderosa, commonly known as the ponderosa pine, bull pine, blackjack pine, western yellow-pine, or filipinus pine, is a very large pine tree species of variable habitat native to mountainous regions of western North America. It is the most widely distributed pine species in North America.
Pinus ponderosa grows in various erect forms from British Columbia southward and eastward through 16 western U.S. states and has been introduced in temperate regions of Europe and in New Zealand. It was first documented in modern science in 1826 in eastern Washington near present-day Spokane (of which it is the official city tree). On that occasion, David Douglas misidentified it as Pinus resinosa (red pine). In 1829, Douglas concluded that he had a new pine among his specimens and coined the name Pinus ponderosa for its heavy wood. In 1836, it was formally named and described by Charles Lawson, a Scottish nurseryman. It was adopted as the official state tree of Montana in 1949. (Full article...)
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The climate and ecology of different locations on the globe naturally separate into life zones, depending on elevation, location, and latitude. The generally strong dependency on elevation is known as altitudinal zonation: the average temperature of a location decreases as the elevation increases.
The general effect of elevation depends on atmospheric physics. However, the specific climate and ecology of any particular location depends on specific features of that location. This article provides a list of life zones by region, in order to illustrate the features of life zones for regions around the globe. (Full article...)
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Traverse is a method in the field of surveying to establish control networks. It is also used in geodesy. Traverse networks involve placing survey stations along a line or path of travel, and then using the previously surveyed points as a base for observing the next point. Connected survey lines form the framework and the directions and lengths of the survey lines are measured with an angle measuring instrument and tape or chain. Traverse networks have many advantages, including:
Less reconnaissance and organization needed;
While in other systems, which may require the survey to be performed along a rigid polygon shape, the traverse can change to any shape and thus can accommodate a great deal of different terrains;
Only a few observations need to be taken at each station, whereas in other survey networks a great deal of angular and linear observations need to be made and considered;
Traverse networks are free of the strength of figure considerations that happen in triangular systems;
Scale error does not add up as the traverse is performed. Azimuth swing errors can also be reduced by increasing the distance between stations.
Tree planting is the process of transplanting tree seedlings, generally for forestry, land reclamation, or landscaping purposes. It differs from the transplantation of larger trees in arboriculture and from the lower-cost but slower and less reliable distribution of tree seeds. Trees contribute to their environment over long periods of time by providing oxygen, improving air quality, climate amelioration, conserving water, preserving soil, and supporting wildlife. During the process of photosynthesis, trees take in carbon dioxide and produce the oxygen we breathe.
In silviculture, the activity is known as "reforestation", or "afforestation," depending on whether the area being planted has recently been forested or not. It involves planting seedlings over an area of land where the forest has been harvested or damaged by fire, disease, or human activity. Tree planting is carried out in many different parts of the world, and strategies may differ widely across nations and regions and among individual reforestation companies. Tree planting is grounded in forest science and, if performed properly, can result in the successful regeneration of a deforested area. Reforestation is the commercial logging industry's answer to the large-scale destruction of old-growth forests, but a planted forest rarely replicates the biodiversity and complexity of a natural forest.
Because trees remove carbon dioxide from the air as they grow, tree planting can be used to help limit climate change. Desert greening projects are also motivated by improved biodiversity and reclamation of natural water systems, as well as improved economic and social welfare due to an increased number of jobs in farming and forestry. (Full article...)
Pliotrema kajae has its barbels situated roughly half way from the rostral tip to the mouth. It also has longer snout, more numerous rostral teeth, and lighter brown dorsal coloration if compared to Pliotrema annae (Anna's sixgill sawshark). (Full article...)
It is found widely along coastlines in the Indo-Pacific, preferring reefs, sandy flats, and seagrass beds from very shallow water to a depth of 70 m (230 ft). With a cylindrical body and a broad, flattened head, the tawny nurse shark is quite similar in appearance to the nurse shark (Ginglymostoma cirratum) of the Atlantic and East Pacific, from which it can be distinguished by its pointed-tipped dorsal fins and narrow, sickle-shaped pectoral fins. The maximum recorded length of the tawny nurse shark is 3.2 m (10 ft).
Nocturnal in habits, the tawny nurse shark tends to spend the day resting in piles of two dozen or more individuals inside caves or under ledges. At night, it is an active-swimming predator that uses a powerful suction force to extract prey from inside holes and crevices. The diet of this species consists mainly of octopus, though they also take other invertebrates, small bony fishes, and rarely sea snakes. It is aplacental viviparous, meaning the embryos hatch from egg capsules inside the mother. It is the only carpet shark in which the embryos are oophagous, feeding on eggs produced by the mother while inside the uterus. The litter size may be as small as one or two, based on the large size of near-term embryos.
Compared to the nurse shark, the tawny nurse shark has a more placid disposition and will often allow divers to touch and play with it. However, it should be accorded respect due to its powerful jaws and sharp teeth. This species is caught by commercial fisheries across most of its range for meat, fins, liver oil, leather, and fishmeal. It is also esteemed as a game fish off Queensland, Australia, and is known for its habit of spitting water in the faces of its captors. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has assessed the tawny nurse shark as Vulnerable, with subpopulations in several areas already diminished or extirpated. (Full article...)
The Pacific spiny dogfish (Squalus suckleyi) is a common species of the Squalidae (dogfish) family of sharks and are among the most abundant species of sharks in the world. This species is closely related to Squalus acanthias and for many years they were treated as a single species. Recent research, using meristic, morphological and molecular data led to the resurrection of the Pacific spiny dogfish as a separate species. The American Fisheries Society recommends the common name "Pacific spiny dogfish" for Squalus suckleyi over alternatives such as "spotted spiny dogfish" and "North Pacific spiny dogfish" and "spiny dogfish" for Squalus acanthias.
The maximum length of a Pacific dogfish can be 130 centimetres (51 in), and they can live up to 100 years. Squalus suckleyi has a slower growth rate, larger maximum size, and later maturity compared to Squalus acanthias species. The slower growth rate and time of maturity could be related to the colder temperatures these sharks face. Pacific spiny dogfish prefer to be in temperatures ranging from 7 to 15 °C (45 to 59 °F). Dogfish are found all over the world, but the Pacific spiny dogfish are found mostly in the North Pacific Ocean. These areas range from Korea to Japan and Russia, as well as the gulf of Alaska down to Baja, California. They are known to be piscivores, eating other fish. Additionally, they are known to consume octopus, squid, and crustaceans.
Squalus suckleyi have a slow reproduction rate compared to other sharks, with their gestation period being roughly around two years. This makes the Pacific dogfish more vulnerable to threats since they take longer to reproduce. (Full article...)
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The brown lanternshark or bristled lanternshark (Etmopterus unicolor) is a little-known species of deep-sea dogfish shark in the family Etmopteridae. It is found off Japan and New Zealand, and possibly also South Africa and Australia, typically deeper than 300 m (980 ft). This species can be distinguished from other lanternsharks by its coloration, which is a uniform dark gray or brown without the ventral surface being much darker and clearly delineated from the rest of the body. The brown lanternshark feeds on small bony fishes, cephalopods, and crustaceans. Reproduction is ovoviviparous, with females giving birth to 9–18 young. An unusually high proportion of individuals in Suruga Bay are hermaphrodites, with both male and female characteristics. (Full article...)
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The sharptooth houndshark or spotted gully shark (Triakis megalopterus) is a species of houndshark in the family Triakidae found in shallow inshore waters from southern Angola to South Africa. Favoring sandy areas near rocky reefs and gullies, it is an active-swimming species that usually stays close to the bottom. This robust shark reaches 1.7 m (5.6 ft) in length and has characteristically large, rounded fins; the pectoral fins in particular are broad and sickle-shaped in adults. It also has a short, blunt snout and long furrows around its mouth. This species is gray or bronze in color above, with variable amounts of black spotting.
Mainly active at night, the sharptooth houndshark feeds mostly on crustaceans, bony fishes, and cephalopods. It has been observed gathering in groups in shallow water during summertime, possibly for reproductive purposes. This species is aplacental viviparous, meaning that the unborn young are sustained mainly by yolk. Females give birth to 6–12 pups between late May and August, on a 2- or 3-year cycle. The sharptooth houndshark is often hooked by recreational anglers, and some are also captured on commercial bottom longlines. Because of its small range and low growth and reproductive rates, it is very vulnerable to overfishing. The International Union for Conservation of Nature has listed this species as least concern. (Full article...)
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The Indonesian angelshark (Squatina legnota) is a rare species of angelshark, familySquatinidae, known only from a few specimens collected from fish landing sites in southern Indonesia. It is thought to inhabit the deep waters of the continental slope. Reaching at least 1.34 m (4.4 ft) long, this species has a flattened, ray-like shape and a well-developed tail and caudal fin. It is characterized by the absences of fringes on its nasal barbels and thorns down the midline of its back, as well as by its relatively plain grayish-brown dorsal coloration with dark saddles beneath the dorsal fin bases and a black leading margin on the underside of the pectoral fins. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has classified it as Critically Endangered due to significant fishing pressure. (Full article...)
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The nervous shark (Carcharhinus cautus) is a species of requiem shark, and part of the family Carcharhinidae, so named because of its timid behavior in regard to humans. It is common in shallow, coastal waters off northern Australia, Papua New Guinea, and the Solomon Islands. A small brownish or grayish shark typically measuring 1.0–1.3 m (3.3–4.3 ft) long, this species has a short, blunt snout, oval eyes, and a relatively large second dorsal fin. The leading margins of most fins are finely edged with black, and the lower caudal fin lobe is black-tipped.
The Indonesian speckled carpetshark, Hemiscyllium freycineti, is a species of bamboo shark in the familyHemiscylliidae. It is found in the shallow ocean around the Raja Ampat Islands in West Papua, Indonesia, but was formerly believed to be more widespread. This was due to confusion with H. michaeli, a species described from eastern Papua New Guinea in 2010. Compared to that species, the spots on H. freycineti are smaller, more rounded or slightly elongated in shape (versus relatively large, edged and more leopard-like in H. michaeli), and tend to darken at regular intervals forming 8-9 vertical bars on the body and tail. Furthermore, the large black spot behind the pectoral fin is more clearly defined in H. michaeli than in H. freycineti. Confusingly, some books with illustrations and photos labelled as H. freycineti actually show H. michaeli.
H. freycineti reaches a length is up to 46 centimetres (18 in). It is nocturnal, hiding in reef crevices during the day. (Full article...)
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The cookiecutter shark (Isistius brasiliensis), also called the cigar shark, is a species of small squaliform shark in the familyDalatiidae. This shark lives in warm, oceanic waters worldwide, particularly near islands, and has been recorded as deep as 3.7 km (2.3 mi). It migrates vertically up to 3 km (1.9 mi) every day, approaching the surface at dusk and descending with the dawn. Reaching only 42–56 cm (16.5–22 in) in length, the cookiecutter shark has a long, cylindrical body with a short, blunt snout, large eyes, two tiny spineless dorsal fins, and a large caudal fin. It is dark brown, with light-emitting photophores covering its underside except for a dark "collar" around its throat and gill slits.
The name "cookiecutter shark" refers to its feeding method of gouging round plugs, as if cut out with a cookie cutter, out of larger animals. Marks made by cookiecutter sharks have been found on a wide variety of marine mammals and fishes, and on submarines, undersea cables, and human bodies. It also consumes whole smaller prey, such as squid. Cookiecutter sharks have adaptations for hovering in the water column, and likely rely on stealth and subterfuge to capture more active prey. Its dark collar seems to mimic the silhouette of a small fish, while the rest of its body blends into the downwelling light via its ventral photophores. When a would-be predator approaches the lure, the shark attaches itself using its suctorial lips and specialized pharynx and neatly excises a chunk of the flesh using its bandsaw-like set of lower teeth. This species has been known to travel in schools.
Though rarely encountered because of its oceanic habitat, a handful of documented attacks on humans were apparently caused by cookiecutter sharks. Nevertheless, this diminutive shark is not regarded as dangerous to humans. The International Union for Conservation of Nature has listed the cookiecutter shark under least concern, as it is widely distributed, has no commercial value, and is not particularly susceptible to fisheries. (Full article...)
The sicklefin weasel shark (Hemigaleus microstoma) is an uncommon species of ground shark in the familyHemigaleidae. It is native to southern India, southern China, and parts of Southeast Asia, living in shallow waters down to a depth of 170 m (560 ft). This lightly built shark is characterized by its very short mouth, broad upper teeth with serrations only on the trailing edge, and strongly sickle-shaped fins with obvious white tips on the two dorsal fins. It is light grey or bronze in colour, often with small white blotches on its sides; it reaches a maximum known length of 1.1 m (3.6 ft).
Spending most of its time close to the sea floor, the sicklefin weasel shark is a specialist predator of cephalopods. Its reproductive mode is viviparous, in which the unborn young form a placental connection to their mother. Females probably give birth twice a year, with each litter consisting of two to four pups. The sicklefin weasel shark is widely caught by artisanal fisheries and used for meat, fins, and fishmeal; its low natural abundance and reproductive rate mean that it cannot sustain much fishing pressure. Given that fishing activity is intense throughout its range, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has assessed this species as vulnerable. (Full article...)
The Pondicherry shark (Carcharhinus hemiodon) is an extremely rare species of requiem shark, in the family Carcharhinidae. A small and stocky gray shark, it grows not much longer than 1 m (3.3 ft) and has a fairly long, pointed snout. This species can be identified by the shape of its upper teeth, which are strongly serrated near the base and smooth-edged near the tip, and by its first dorsal fin, which is large with a long free rear tip. Furthermore, this shark has prominent black tips on its pectoral fins, second dorsal fin, and caudal fin lower lobe.
The Pondicherry shark is critically endangered. It was once found throughout Indo-Pacific coastal waters from the Gulf of Oman to New Guinea, and is known to enter fresh water. Fewer than 20 specimens are available for study, and most aspects of its natural history are unknown. It probably feeds on bony fishes, cephalopods, and crustaceans, and gives birth to live young with the embryos forming a placental connection to their mother. While the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has listed the Pondicherry shark as Critically endangered, it had been thought to be extinct since the 1970s. It is probably threatened by intense and escalating fishing pressure throughout its range. The shark is among the 25 "most wanted lost" species that are the focus of Global Wildlife Conservation's "Search for Lost Species" initiative. The Pondicherry has been spotted in rivers in India in the late 2010s. A Pondicherry shark was caught in the Menik Ganga (river) in SE Sri Lanka in 2011. It was photographed and released alive. (Full article...)
The smooth hammerhead (Sphyrna zygaena) is a species of hammerhead shark, and part of the family Sphyrnidae. This species is named "smooth hammerhead" because of the distinctive shape of the head, which is flattened and laterally extended into a hammer shape (called the "cephalofoil"), without an indentation in the middle of the front margin (hence "smooth"). Unlike other hammerheads, this species prefers temperate waters and occurs worldwide at medium latitudes. In the summer, these sharks migrate towards the poles following cool water masses, sometimes forming schools numbering in the hundreds to thousands.
The second-largest hammerhead shark after the great hammerhead shark, the smooth hammerhead can measure up to 5 m (16 ft) long. It is an active predator that takes a wide variety of bony fishes and invertebrates, with larger individuals also feeding on sharks and rays. As in the rest of its family, this shark is viviparous and gives birth to litters of 20–40 pups. A relatively common shark, it is captured, intentionally or otherwise, by many commercial fisheries throughout its range; its fins are extremely valuable for use in shark fin soup. This shark is potentially dangerous and has likely been responsible for a few attacks on humans, though it is less likely to encounter swimmers than other large hammerhead species due to its temperate habitat. (Full article...)
The mosaic gulper shark has no anal fin, two dorsal fins with large spines (the second dorsal is relatively high, almost as high as the first), large eyes, angular extended free tips on the pectoral fins, and a moderately notched caudal fin. It has a maximum length of 89 cm (35 in). The mosaic gulper shark features a moderately long, parabolic snout with a width that is slightly greater than that of its mouth. Its mouth includes sets of sharp, unicuspid teeth in both its upper and lower jaws, with the lower sets being larger than the top. The mosaic gulper shark is ovoviviparous and produces liters of 1 to 2 pups.
Being found at depths between 260 and 728 m, the mosaic gulper shark is rare enough that it has no significance to fisheries, contrary to others of the genus Cemtrophorus.
The mosaic gulper shark's conservation status is currently classified as endangered.
The mosaic gulper shark seems to be harmless to humans. (Full article...)
The northern river shark or New Guinea river shark (Glyphis garricki) is a species of requiem shark, in the familyCarcharhinidae, found in scattered tidal rivers and associated coastal waters in northern Australia and in Papua New Guinea. This species inhabits areas with poor visibility, soft bottoms, and large tides, with immature sharks ranging into fresh and brackish water. It is similar to other river sharks in having a stocky grey body with a high back, tiny eyes, and broad fins. It measures up to 2.5 m (8.2 ft) long.
The blackbelly lanternshark or lucifer shark (Etmopterus lucifer) is a shark of the familyEtmopteridae found around the world in tropical and temperate seas at depths between 150 and 1,250 meters – the mesopelagic zone. Compared to other mesopelagic fish predators and invertebrates, the blackbelly lanternshark is thought to reside in shallower, more southern waters. E. lucifer can reach up to 47 centimeters in length and consumes mesopelagic cephalopods, fish, and crustaceans. Blackbelly lanternsharks are bioluminescent, using hormone controlled mechanisms to emit light through ventral photogenic organs called photophores and are presumed to be ovoviviparous. The blackbelly lanternshark has been classified as "Not Threatened" within the New Zealand Threat Classification System. (Full article...)
The Ganges shark (Glyphis gangeticus) is a critically endangered species of requiem shark found in the Ganges River (Padma River) and the Brahmaputra River of India and Bangladesh. It is often confused with the more common bull shark (Carcharhinus leucas), which also inhabits the Ganges River and is sometimes incorrectly referred to as the Ganges shark. The genus is currently considered to contain three recent species; genetic evidence has shown that both the Borneo river shark (G. fowlerae) and Irrawaddy river shark (G. siamensis) should be regarded as synonyms of the Ganges shark, expanding the range of the species to Pakistan, Myanmar, Borneo, and Java. While the other members of the genus Glyphis occur in coastal marine waters as well as rivers, the Ganges shark is found only in fresh water, making it the world's only exclusively freshwater shark. The species remains poorly known and very rare. (Full article...)
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The banded houndshark (Triakis scyllium) is a species of houndshark in the family Triakidae, common in the northwestern Pacific Ocean from the southern Russian Far East to Taiwan. Found on or near the bottom, it favors shallow coastal habitats with sandy or vegetated bottoms, and also enters brackish water. This shark reaches 1.5 m (4.9 ft) in length. It has a short, rounded snout and mostly narrow fins; the pectoral fins are broad and triangular, and the trailing margin of the first dorsal fin is almost vertical. It is gray above and lighter below; younger sharks have darker saddles and dots, which fade with age.
The velvet belly lanternshark (or simply velvet belly) (Etmopterus spinax) is a species of dogfish shark in the familyEtmopteridae. One of the most common deepwater sharks in the northeastern Atlantic Ocean, the velvet belly is found from Iceland and Norway to Gabon and South Africa at a depth of 20–2,490 m (66–8,169 ft). A small shark generally no more than 45 cm (18 in) long, the velvet belly is so named because its black underside is abruptly distinct from the brown coloration on the rest of its body. The body of this species is fairly stout, with a moderately long snout and tail, and very small gill slits. Like other lanternsharks, the velvet belly is bioluminescent, with light-emitting photophores forming a species-specific pattern over its flanks and abdomen. The ventral photophores are thought to function in counter-illumination, which camouflages the shark against predators and prey. The bioluminescent flank markings may play a role in intraspecific communication.
Young velvet bellies feed mainly on krill and small bony fish, transitioning to squid and shrimp as they grow larger. There is evidence that individuals also move into deeper water as they age. This species exhibits a number of adaptations to living in the deep sea, such as specialized T-cells and liverproteins for dealing with the higher concentrations of heavy metals found there. Velvet bellies often carry a heavy parasite load. It is ovoviviparous, giving birth to litters of six to 20 young every two to three years. This species has virtually no commercial value, but large numbers are caught as bycatch in deepwater commercial fisheries. It has been assessed as Near Threatened by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, the heavy fishing pressure throughout its range and its slow reproductive rate are raising conservation concerns. (Full article...)
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The humpback smooth-hound (Mustelus whitneyi) is a species of houndshark and a part of the familyTriakidae.The most noticeable difference between Mustelus whitneyi and its relatives, is the slight curvature, causing a "humpback" appearance located in front of its primary dorsal fin. It is found on the continental shelves of the tropical southeast Pacific, from Peru to southern Chile, between latitudes3° S and 54° S. These sharks are demersal feeders but range from depths between 15 and 210 metres (50 and 690 ft). Humpback smooth-hound sharks are small sharks, reaching a maximum size of 118cm in total length. Mustelus whitneyi typically feed on teleosts and invertebrates in the benthic and pelagic ecosystems, most important prey being the peruvian anchovy. These humpback smooth-hound sharks are placental viviparious sharks, meaning that the embryo forms inside the mother tethered by the placental cord. The threats currently causing population decline to humpback smooth-hound sharks surround issues with local fisheries and management. (Full article...)
The rough longnose dogfish (Deania hystricosa) is a little-known deepwater dogfish. This species was described by Samuel Garman in 1906 and originally named Acanthidium hystricosa.
The rough longnose dogfish has an extremely long snout, no anal fin, small grooved dorsal spines, and rough, pitchfork-shaped dermal denticles. The first dorsal fin is long and narrow.
Maximum length is 109 cm. Found in the Eastern Atlantic around Madeira and in the western Pacific around southern Japan, this shark is rarely seen, but lives between 600 and 1,000 m. It is ovoviviparous with probably around 12 pups per litter.
The gulf catshark (Asymbolus vincenti) is a species of catshark, found only off the shores of southern Australia at depths between 27 and 650 metres (89 and 2,133 ft). This species can reach a length of 61 centimetres (24 in) TL. (Full article...)
While these common names may apply to several species, Squalus acanthias is distinguished by two spines (one anterior to each dorsal fin) and no anal fin. It lives in shallow waters and further offshore in most parts of the world, especially in temperate waters. Those in the northern Pacific Ocean were reevaluated in 2010 and found to constitute a separate species, now called the Pacific spiny dogfish (Squalus suckleyi). (Full article...)
The velvet belly lanternshark (or simply velvet belly) (Etmopterus spinax) is a species of dogfish shark in the familyEtmopteridae. One of the most common deepwater sharks in the northeastern Atlantic Ocean, the velvet belly is found from Iceland and Norway to Gabon and South Africa at a depth of 20–2,490 m (66–8,169 ft). A small shark generally no more than 45 cm (18 in) long, the velvet belly is so named because its black underside is abruptly distinct from the brown coloration on the rest of its body. The body of this species is fairly stout, with a moderately long snout and tail, and very small gill slits. Like other lanternsharks, the velvet belly is bioluminescent, with light-emitting photophores forming a species-specific pattern over its flanks and abdomen. The ventral photophores are thought to function in counter-illumination, which camouflages the shark against predators and prey. The bioluminescent flank markings may play a role in intraspecific communication.
Young velvet bellies feed mainly on krill and small bony fish, transitioning to squid and shrimp as they grow larger. There is evidence that individuals also move into deeper water as they age. This species exhibits a number of adaptations to living in the deep sea, such as specialized T-cells and liverproteins for dealing with the higher concentrations of heavy metals found there. Velvet bellies often carry a heavy parasite load. It is ovoviviparous, giving birth to litters of six to 20 young every two to three years. This species has virtually no commercial value, but large numbers are caught as bycatch in deepwater commercial fisheries. It has been assessed as Near Threatened by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, the heavy fishing pressure throughout its range and its slow reproductive rate are raising conservation concerns. (Full article...)
The dam is located a little upstream from Sergeyev town on the Ishim River. It has a road bridge, as well as a pumping station for the Sergeev city water supply, which is part of the Ishim Water Supply Network (Kazakh: Есіл су құбыры) that operates in the North Kazakhstan and Akmola Regions. (Full article...)
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The Gove Dam is an embankment dam on the Kunene River about 75 km (47 mi) south of Huambo in Huambo Province, Angola. The purpose of the dam is to control floods and generate hydroelectric power. It has a power generating capacity of 60 megawatts (80,000 hp) each) (three turbines of 20 megawatts (27,000 hp) each), enough to power over 30,000 homes. (Full article...)
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The Pulangi IV Hydroelectric Power Plant, also known as the Pulangi Dam, is located on the Pulangi River near Maramag in Bukidnon province on the island of Mindanao in the Philippines. It uses two reservoirs, produced by damming the Pulangi River, to supply water to a run-of-the-riverhydroelectric power plant; the power plant is capable of generating 255 megawatts (342,000 hp) of power. Construction began in 1982; the first two generators became operational in December 1985, with the last generator being commissioned in 1986.
The upper (pondage) reservoir located at diverts water into a power channel which parallels the river until it reaches the lower reservoir (surge pool) at , 7.5 km (5 mi) to the south. At the lower reservoir, water is fed to each of the three 85 MW (114,000 hp) Francis turbine-generators via a penstock. The Pulangi IV power plant provides 23% of the hydroelectric power generated on Mindanao.
Since operation, the reservoirs associated with the power plant have received an estimated 1,500,000 m3 (1,216 acre⋅ft) of sediment annually. Of the reservoir's combined 67,000,000 m3 (54,318 acre⋅ft) active capacity, 23,000,000 m3 (18,646 acre⋅ft) has been filled with silt. The siltation rate was almost 1 meter annually and caused the dam's reservoir to work at 50% capacity. The unexpected siltation threatens safe operation of the dams and power generation, in addition to drastically shortening the predicted operational lifespan of the dam. At first, the minimum and maximum water levels were raised and, in 2007, dredging work was performed around the head work of the upper reservoir's head. Selective dredging in the upper reservoir began in 2010, and continues as of 2011.
The dam was constructed in August 1956 and opened in May 1960 under the government-owned National Power Corporation (NAPOCOR), three years after its sister facility Ambuklao Dam. It is located 31 kilometres (19 mi) southeast of Baguio and 19 kilometres (12 mi) downstream of Ambuklao Dam within the Upper Agno River Basin Resource Reserve. Improvement of the dam is ongoing, after it received heavy damage during the 1990 Luzon earthquake, and its installed capacity of 100 MW is being upgraded to 140MW.
The 114 m (374 ft) tall dam creates a reservoir called Indra Sarobar which stores 85,300,000 m3 (69,200 acre⋅ft) of water. (Full article...)
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Boškov Most Hydro Power Plant, referred to as Boškov Most HPP, is a derivation plant planned to be built in Mala Reka valley, in the southernmost part of the Mavrovo National Park, in North Macedonia. It will have a total capacity of 71,5 MW. Construction is expected to last 4 years.
The project raises several environmental concerns, including threats on the survival of the Balkan lynx. (Full article...)
A new NOK 1.8 billion powerplant called Lysebotn II with 370 MW Francis turbines was built nearby, with an expected life of 60–70 years. The tunnels are 7.8 km long, 45 m2 wide, and transporting 60 m3/second. It officially opened on the 17th of September 2018.
The reservoir has a capacity of 595×10^6 m3 (0.595 km3) water located at 636–686 m altitude. (Full article...)
The plant is a Run- Of- River project with installed capacity of 2.5 MW, design flow of 2.7 m3/s and gross head of 124.5m.
This is only project in Nepal to utilize pressurized Glass Fibre reinforced Plastic (GRP) pipe for flow conduction.
The plant has two units with Turgo turbine (2 *1250 KW). The power is evacuated via 33kVA transmission line to switch-yard of Sunkoshi Hydropower Station (9MW)
The Chalillo Dam is a gravity dam on the Macal River about 33 km (21 mi) south of San Ignacio in Cayo District, Belize. Chalillo Dam's maximum capacity is 7.0MW. The dam was constructed by Sinohydro of Beijing, China between 2002 and 2005 with the primary purpose of hydroelectric power production. It is owned and operated by Belize Electricity Limited (BEL). At the time of the dam's construction, BEL was owned by the Canadian corporation Fortis Inc., but is now owned by the government of Belize. The project budget was approximately US 30 million. Its construction generated controversy over its effect on the surrounding rain forest. Two smaller dams, the Mollejon and Vaca, are downstream from the Chalillo Dam. (Full article...)
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The Bin el Ouidane Dam is an arch dam located 28 kilometres (17 mi) south of Beni Mellal on the El-Abid River in Azilal Province, Morocco. Designed by Coyne et Bellier and constructed between 1949 and 1953, the purpose of the dam is hydroelectric power production and irrigation. Its 135 MW (181,000 hp) power station produces an average of 287 gigawatt-hours (1,030 TJ) annually and water from the reservoir helps irrigate 69,500 hectares (172,000 acres) in the Beni Moussa and Tadla plains. (Full article...)
The Hòa Bình Dam on the Black River (Vietnamese: Sông Đà) is the largest hydroelectric dam in Vietnam from 1994 to 2012 (this record was broken by Sơn La Dam), and one of the largest in Southeast Asia, with a generating capacity of 1,920 MW. The Sông Đà Reservoir, with a capacity of 9 billion m3 was formed as the river was dammed.
The dam is located in Hòa Bình City of the Hòa Bình Province in the north of Vietnam. It measures 128 m (420 ft) in height, and 970 m (3,182 ft) in length. It is owned by Vietnam Electricity and operated by the Hoa Binh Hydro Power Company. (Full article...)
With a power of 977 MW, it is the largest hydroelectric power station in Sweden, and also the fourth largest in the Nordic countries. The name means "Hare Run" in Swedish. This was also the name of the mighty rapids there, and the name was related to the sharp turns in the rapids, a little similar to the ones a hare does when fleeing. Normal year production is around 2131 GWh. Total fall height is around 107 m. (Full article...)
The Antelomita Hydroelectric Power Station is located in the rural commune Anjeva Gara of the Analamanga Region, Madagascar. The hydroelectric power station comprises two parts, Antelomita I and II. Both are adjacent to one another on separate water falls along the Ikopa River. Each water fall is dammed and water is diverted to the power station; each of which contains three 1.4 megawatts (1,900 hp) generators. The first two were commissioned in 1930, the second two in 1952 and the final two in 1953. Both stages have an installed capacity of 8.4 megawatts (11,300 hp). They were built by a French firm but are now owned and operated by Jirama. The Tsiazompaniry and Mantasoa Dams upstream regulate water to the power station.
The Yenikend Hydro Power Plant is one of Azerbaijan's largest hydro power plant having an installed electric capacity of 150 megawatts (200,000 hp). The power plant is owned by Azerenerji, the state-owned electric power generation and distribution company of Azerbaijan. (Full article...)
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Kainji Dam is a dam across the Niger River in Niger State of Central Nigeria. Construction of the dam by Impregilo (a consortium of Italian civil engineering contractors) began in 1964 and was completed in 1968. Its total cost was estimated at US$209 million (equivalent to about US$1.5 billion in 2023 dollars), with one-quarter of this amount used to resettle people displaced by the construction of the dam and its reservoir, the Kainji Lake. (Full article...)
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Aiviekste hydroelectric power station is the first hydroelectric power station constructed in Latvia. It is located on the Aiviekste River. The power station was commissioned in 1925 and until 1938 it was the largest in Latvia. The power station was decommissioned in 1969; however, in 1988 it was decided to restore it. In 1993, the power station restarted power generation.
The power station has total capacity of 0.8 MW. In 2007, it generated 3GWh of electricity. The power station is operated by Latvenergo. (Full article...)
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Klang Gates Dam (Malay: Empangan Klang Gates) is a dam in Ulu Klang, Gombak District, Selangor, Malaysia. It is also known as the Bukit Tabur Dam. Completed in 1958, the dam is the first dam in Malaysia for water supply. It is a concrete arch dam with a spillway in the centre.
The reservoir impounded by the dam is one of the major sources of drinking water for residents of the Klang Valley, where the national capital, Kuala Lumpur, is located. The dam's water storage capacity is 25,104 million liters. The Bukit Nanas water treatment plant takes raw water from this reservoir and produces 145 million liters of treated water per day.
During the 2014 water crisis, capacity dropped as low as 54%, providing only approximately 80 days of water supply.
Beside the dam is Klang Gate Ridge, the largest quartz ridge in the world. Split into two sections known as Bukit Tabur West and Bukit Tabur East, the ridge is 200m wide and has a length of 22km. It is unique for its sheer size as well as for its four types of quartz formations. The ridge is rich in vegetation, supporting at least 265 plant species including 5 endemic ones. A rare animal, the serow (a mountain goat), is also found on the ridge. (Full article...)
Sam Eyde formed Vamma Fossekompagnie in 1902 to build a power plant for a fertilizer factory. The factory plans were canceled in 1912 and Vamma Fossekompagnie was sold to Hafslund (company).
Construction of the power station started in 1907 and in 1915 the first two turbines were completed. Another six turbines were built between 1915 and 1927. In 1944 the final two were complete. The installed capacity at that point was 113 MW from ten horizontal Francis turbines with dual runners.
Between 1967 and 1971 a Kaplan turbine was built, adding another 110 MW, and it now operates at an installed capacity of 215 MW, with an average annual production of 1,275 GWh.
In 2015 the construction of a twelfth turbine began on the south side of the dam. This is also a Kaplan turbine rated at 128 MW. The new turbine will allow the ten old turbines to only be used during the spring flood season, giving the plant more flexibility. The turbine is expected to add another 230GWh to the annual production.
Testing of the turbine began on 16 May 2019., and was officially opened on September 8, 2019, by prime minister Erna Solberg.
This dam was built on the Gondang River in Wonorejo Village using a loan from OECF of ¥ 14.954 billion.
As a result of sedimentation, in 2011, the total capacity of the reservoir formed as a result of the construction of this dam is estimated to remain at 107.2 million cubic meters, with an active capacity of 97 million cubic meters and an inactive capacity of 10.1 million cubic meters. (Full article...)
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Oanob Dam is a dam outside Rehoboth, Hardap Region, Namibia. Located 7 kilometres (4.3 mi) outside Rehoboth, it dams the Oanob River and supplies the town with the majority of its water. It has a capacity of 34,505,000 cubic metres (1.2185×109 cu ft) and was completed in 1990, the year of Namibia's independence. (Full article...)
The Campo Moro dams are a pair of hydroelectric-gravity dams situated in Lanzada, in the province of Sondrio, Lombardy (Northern Italy). The two dams are called Alpe Gera dam and Campo Moro dam. Alpe Gera, the largest of the pair, was constructed with approximately 1,800,000 m³ of concrete to create the Alpe Gera reservoir (in Italian: Bacino di Alpe Gera). The lower dam, Campo Moro, was created to form the Campo Moro reservoir (in Italian: Bacino di Campo Moro). (Full article...)
It is a reservoir with a surface area of about 88 km2 (34 sq mi) and is fed by the river Þjórsá, which comes down from the glacierHofsjökull. On its southern end, Þórisvatn is used to generate electricity at a power station. It is like other Icelandic lakes, which are mostly glacial lakes or volcanic lakes.
The lake grew from about 70 km2 to 86 km2[contradictory] with the construction of the power station and was previously only the second largest lake in the country. (Full article...)
{{ Transclude list item excerpts as random slideshow | List of mountain ranges | section=Mountain ranges on Earth }} Select from Earth section, avoiding Moon
Much of the forest cover is beech/podocarp with understory of a variety of ferns and shrubs; crown fern (Lomaria discolor) is one of the dominant understory ferns. (Full article...)
Because Siberia is a geographic and historic concept and not a political entity, there is no single precise definition of its territorial borders. Traditionally, Siberia spans the entire expanse of land from the Ural Mountains to the Pacific Ocean, with the Ural River usually forming the southernmost portion of its western boundary, and includes most of the drainage basin of the Arctic Ocean. It is further defined as stretching from the territories within the Arctic Circle in the north to the northern borders of Kazakhstan, Mongolia, and China in the south, although the hills of north-central Kazakhstan are also commonly included. The Russian government divides the region into three federal districts (groupings of Russian federal subjects), of which only the central one is officially referred to as "Siberian"; the other two are the Ural and Far Eastern federal districts, named for the Ural and Russian Far East regions that correspond respectively to the western and eastern thirds of Siberia in the broader sense.
Siberia is known for its long, harsh winters, with a January average of −25 °C (−13 °F). Although it is geographically in Asia, Russian sovereignty and colonization since the 16th century have rendered the region culturally and ethnically European. Over 85% of its population are of European descent, chiefly Russian (comprising the Siberian sub-ethnic group), and Eastern Slavic cultural influences predominate throughout the region. Nevertheless, there exist sizable ethnic minorities of Asian lineage, including various Turkic communities—many of which, such as the Yakuts, Tuvans, Altai, and Khakas, are Indigenous—along with the MongolicBuryats, ethnic Koreans, and smaller groups of Samoyedic and Tungusic peoples (several of whom are classified as Indigenous small-numbered peoples by the Russian government), among many others. (Full article...)
The Tatra Mountains occupy an area of 785 square kilometres (303 sq mi), of which about 610 square kilometres (236 sq mi) (77.7%) lie within Slovakia and about 175 square kilometres (68 sq mi) (22.3%) within Poland. The highest peak, called Gerlachovský štít, at 2,655 m (8710 ft), is located north of Poprad, entirely in Slovakia. The highest point in Poland, Rysy, at 2,500 metres (8,200 ft), is located south of Zakopane, on the border with Slovakia.
The Tatras' length, measured from the eastern foothills of the Kobylí vrch (1,109 metres (3,638 ft)) to the southwestern foot of Ostrý vrch (1128 m), in a straight line, is 57 km (35 mi) (or 53 km (33 mi) according to some), and strictly along the main ridge, 80 km (50 mi). The range is only 19 km (12 mi) wide. The main ridge of the Tatras runs from the village of Huty at the western end to the village of Ždiar at the eastern end.
The Capitan Mountains are a mountain range in Lincoln County, in south-central New Mexico in the southwestern United States. The range is about 20 miles (32 km) long from east to west being about 6 miles (10 km) wide and were formed from a large elongated granite intrusion similar to the round one that produced Carrizo Mountain to the west.
The small town of Capitan is on the southwestern side of the mountain and is the location of Smokey Bear Historical Park. This is the park that memorializes the famous bear that was rescued from the Capitan Gap Fire in the Capitan Mountains. The highest point in the range is an unnamed peak reaching 10,201 feet (3139 m) which is 118 feet (36 m) higher than Capitan Peak. The entirety of the range lies within Lincoln National Forest and is separated from the Sacramento Mountains to the south and Sierra Blanca to the southwest by the valley of Rio Bonito. (Full article...)
The Grampian Mountains (Scottish Gaelic: Am Monadh) is one of the three major mountain ranges in Scotland, that together occupy about half of Scotland. The other two ranges are the Northwest Highlands and the Southern Uplands. The Grampian range extends southwest to northeast between the Highland Boundary Fault and the Great Glen. The range includes many of the highest mountains in the British Isles, including Ben Nevis (whose peak contains the highest point in the British Isles at 1,345 m or 4,413 ft above sea level) and Ben Macdui (whose peak contains second-highest at 1,309 m or 4,295 ft).
There is some ambiguity about the extent of the range, and until the nineteenth century, they were generally considered to be more than one range, which all formed part of the wider Scottish Highlands. This view is still held by many today, and they have no single name in the Scottish Gaelic language or the Doric dialect of Lowland Scots. In both languages, a number of names are used. The name "Grampian" has been used in the titles of organisations covering parts of Scotland north of the Central Belt, including the former local government area of Grampian Region (translated into Scots Gaelic as Roinn a' Mhonaidh), NHS Grampian, and Grampian Television. (Full article...)
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The Serranías Chiquitanas are a group of low mountain ranges in the northeast of the Bolivian department of Santa Cruz. The ranges are located at the southern periphery of the discrete massif of the Guaporé shield. The Serranías Chiquitanas stands out of the surrounding lowlands as a series of forested hills some of which have escarpments. The Serranías Chiquitanas runs in a northwest to southeast fashion. The most important ranges among the Serranías are Serranía de Santiago, Serranía de San José, Serranía de Sunsas and Sierra de Chochis. (Full article...)
The range is part of the greater Watkins Range and is named after Danish polar explorer Ejnar Mikkelsen. The highest peak is one of the most impressive mountains in Greenland and has a good reputation among alpinists. It was first climbed in 1970 by Andrew Ross leading a Scottish team, and for the second time in 1998 by Roland Aeschimann leading a Swiss team. (Full article...)
The highest point of the range and the country is Mount Wilhelm at 4,509 metres (14,793 ft). At over 3,400 metres (11,155 ft), the landscape is alpine with tundra, in spite of the tropical climate. The Ramu River has its source in the range.
The Allardyce Range (Spanish: Cordillera de San Telmo) is a mountain range rising south of Cumberland Bay and dominating the central part of South Georgia, a British Overseas Territories. It extends for 50 km (31 mi) from Mount Globus in the northwest to Mount Brooker in the southeast, with peaks of 2,000 to 2,935 m (6,562 to 9,629 ft) and including Mount Paget (2,935 m or 9,629 ft) the highest peak of the range and also the highest point in the UK territory. Other peaks of the range include Mount Roots.
Although not shown on the charts of South Georgia by Cook in 1775 or Bellingshausen in 1819, peaks of this range were doubtless seen by those explorers. The range was named c. 1915 after Sir William Lamond Allardyce (1861–1930), Governor of the Falkland Islands and Dependencies, 1904–14. (Full article...)
The Glarus Alps extend well beyond the canton of Glarus, including parts of the cantons of Uri, Graubünden, and St Gallen. Conversely, not all the mountains in the canton of Glarus are part of the Glarus Alps, with those to the north of the Urner Boden and to the west of the valley of the river Linth considered to be part of the Schwyz Alps. (Full article...)
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The Kaimai Range (sometimes referred to as the Kaimai Ranges) is a mountain range in the North Island of New Zealand. It is part of a series of ranges, with the Coromandel Range to the north and the Mamaku Ranges to the south. The Kaimai Range separates the Waikato in the west from the Bay of Plenty in the east.
The highest point of the range is Mount Te Aroha (953 m), at the foot of which is the town of Te Aroha. The range's terrain is rough, and only two roads pass over it: State Highway 2, across the northern end of the range through Karangahake Gorge, and State Highway 29 from Tauranga to Hamilton. Mt Te Aroha can be described as the northern head peak of the Kaimai Range.
The Kaimai Ranges feature in local Māori folklore. The name Te Aroha translates from Māori as Te - The & Aroha - Love. Literally "the love". The name comes from a Māori legend that the sun god - male - loved the moon goddess - female. They never could see each another due to the planets positions. One day the moon goddess came to earth to see the sun god, knowing the risks, was turned to stone as the daylight came. Hers was the ultimate expression of love: Te Aroha in Māori. This is why on the Kaimai Range, to the right of Mt Te Aroha is a high skyline silhouetted rock that from afar is shaped as a woman. It is known locally as the rock of Hinemoa.
Within the Kaimai Ranges the Hendersons Tramline loop track follows the route of bush tramlines and haul lines once used to extract logs from the bush. The walk includes forest and clearings near the fringe of the park. A side track off the main walk leads down to the base of a waterfall and a large swimming hole. Also some 10–16 km, on the Gordon backroad from te Aroha is a four-wheel drive track named Thomsons track, that takes venturers from the foothills around manawaru to the ranges top, where a large swimming hole is present. (Full article...)
The Dinaric Alps extend for approximately 645 kilometres (401 mi) along the western Balkan Peninsula from the Julian Alps of the northeast Italy, downwards to the Šar and Korabmassif, where their direction changes. The Accursed Mountains are the highest section of the entire Dinaric Alps; this section stretches from Albania to Kosovo and eastern Montenegro. Maja Jezercë, standing at 2,694 metres (8,839 ft) above the Adriatic, is the highest peak and is located in Albania.
The Dinaric Alps are one of the most rugged and extensive mountainous areas of Europe, alongside the Caucasus Mountains, Alps, Pyrenees, Carpathian Mountains and Scandinavian Mountains. They are formed largely of Mesozoic and Cenozoicsedimentary rocks of dolomite, limestone, sandstone and conglomerates formed by seas and lakes that once covered the area. During the Alpine earth movements that occurred 50 to 100 million years ago, immense lateral pressures folded and overthrust the rocks in a great arc around the old rigid block of the northeast. The main tectonic phase of the orogenesis in the area of the Dinaric Karst took place in Cenozoic Era (Paleogene) as a result of the Adriatic Microplate (Adria) collision with Europe, and the process is still active. The Dinaric Alps were thrown up in more or less parallel ranges, stretching like necklaces from the Julian Alps as far as northern Albania and Kosovo, where the mountainous terrain subsides to make way for the waters of the Drin River and the plains of Kosovo. (Full article...)
The White Cloud Mountains are located on National Forest land, with numerous trails in the area. Camping is permitted anywhere on the national forest land and there are no fees to access the area. Primary access to the area is via State Highway 75, the Salmon River Scenic Byway, which accompanies the main Salmon River as it descends along the range's western and northern perimeter.
The highest peak in the White Cloud Mountains, and the SNRA, is Castle Peak at 11,815 ft (3,601 m). The Sawtooth Mountains are about twenty miles (32 km) west of the White Clouds, on the west side of the river and highway, and the Boulder Mountains are directly south of the White Clouds. (Full article...)
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Galičica (Macedonian: Галичица, Albanian: Mali i Thatë) is a mountain situated across the border between North Macedonia and Albania. There is a national park on North Macedonia's side of the mountain, situated between the two biggest lakes in the republic: Lake Ohrid and Lake Prespa. It stretches over an area of 227 square kilometres (88 sq mi).
Galičica is among the richest in endemic species among mountains in North Macedonia. The floral life in the Galičica National Park represents over 1600 species, of which many relicts and endems have the final frontier of its range exactly on the mountain Galičica. At the moment, it is intensively worked on the flora of the National Park and there are indications that the number of endems will be even bigger.[original research?] Views of the lakes and neighbouring mountains can be seen from the Galičica peaks. The second-highest peak is Magaro (2,255 m).
The National Park was confirmed by the government to be a national park in 1958. (Full article...)
The Sayan Mountains' towering peaks and cool lakes southwest of Tuva give rise to the tributaries that merge to become one of Siberia's major rivers, the Yenisei River, which flows north over 3,400 kilometres (2000 mi) to the Arctic Ocean. This is a protected and isolated area, having been kept closed by the Soviet Union since 1944. (Full article...)
There are several small plains between the range and the Atlantic Ocean coastline. Rivers have short courses in the range, and most of them flow to the north into the Atlantic. (Full article...)
The Balkan mountain range is located in the eastern part of the Balkans in Southeastern Europe. The range is conventionally taken to begin at the peak of Vrashka Chuka on the border between Bulgaria and Serbia. It then runs for about 560 kilometres (350 mi), first in a south-easterly direction along the border, then eastward across Bulgaria, forming a natural barrier between the northern and southern halves of the country, before finally reaching the Black Sea at Cape Emine. The mountains reach their highest point with Botev Peak at 2,376 metres (7,795 ft).
In much of the central and eastern sections, the summit forms the watershed between the drainage basins of the Black Sea and the Aegean. A prominent gap in the mountains is formed by the predominantly narrow Iskar Gorge, a few miles north of the Bulgarian capital, Sofia. The karst relief determines the large number of caves, including Magura, featuring the most important and extended European post-Palaeolithic cave painting, Ledenika, Saeva dupka, Bacho Kiro, etc. The most notable rock formation are the Belogradchik Rocks in the west.
There are several important protected areas: Central Balkan National Park, Vrachanski Balkan, Bulgarka and Sinite Kamani, as well as a number of nature reserves. The Balkan Mountains are remarkable for their flora and fauna. Edelweiss grows there in the region of Kozyata stena. Some of the most striking landscapes are included in the Central Balkan National Park with steep cliffs, the highest waterfalls in the Balkans and lush vegetation. There are a number of important nature reserves such as Chuprene, Kozyata stena and others. Most of Europe's large mammals inhabit the area including the brown bear, wolf, boar, chamois and deer.
The mountains are the source of the name of the Balkans (sometimes considered as a distinct peninsula or region). In Bulgarian and Serbian the mountains are also known as Стара планинаStara planina (pronounced in Bulgarian as [ˈstarɐpɫɐniˈna] and in Serbian as [stâːraːplanǐna]), a term whose literal meaning is 'old mountain'. (Full article...)
The Ruwenzori, also spelled Rwenzori and Rwenjura, or Rwenzururu (Swahili: Milima ya Ruwenzori) are a range of mountains in eastern equatorial Africa, located on the border between Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The highest peak of the Ruwenzori reaches 5,109 metres (16,762 ft), and the range's upper regions are permanently snow-capped and glaciated. Rivers fed by mountain streams form one of the sources of the Nile. Because of this, European explorers linked the Ruwenzori with the legendary Mountains of the Moon, claimed by the Greek scholar Ptolemy as the source of the Nile. Virunga National Park in eastern DR Congo and Rwenzori Mountains National Park in southwestern Uganda are located within the range. (Full article...)
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The Old Man Range, also called Kopuwai, is a mountain range in Central Otago, in the South Island of New Zealand. It lies to the west of the valley of the Clutha River, close to the town of Alexandra and the artificial Lake Roxburgh. The range stretches north-south for a distance of some 40 kilometres (25 mi). Part of the range forms the border between the Otago and Southland Regions. The range's Māori name, Kopuwai, means "Water Swallower", and was the name of a mythical giant who lived in the area.
The range rises to a narrow ridge at a height of just over 1,500 metres (4,900 ft). The highest points are the 1,682 metres (5,518 ft) Obelisk (also known as The Old Man, and from which the range gets its name) at (), and Hyde Rock (1,673 metres (5,489 ft)). The eastern flanks of the range are steep, falling away to the Clutha Valley. In contrast, the western flanks fall gently to a high plateau before rising to a lower ridge known as the Old Woman Range. The plateau which has areas of both bare rock and marsh, is the source of numerous creeks, most of them part of the catchment of the young Waikaia and Earnscleugh Rivers.
The geology of the range is dominated by the schists of the Caples and Torlesse Terranes. The rock is a source of gold, and the area was worked during the Otago gold rush of the 1860s. Several remnants of the mining era can still be seen in the range.
Much of the range is conservation land controlled by the New Zealand Department of Conservation (DOC), and divided between the Kopuwai and Bain Block Conservation Areas.
Two more, much smaller, ranges of this name exist in New Zealand — a low range of hills in inland Canterbury, between Lakes Pukaki and Alexandrina, and a higher hill range in the Tasman District, close to Farewell Spit. (Full article...)
The Ninety East Ridge (also rendered as Ninetyeast Ridge, 90E Ridge or 90°E Ridge) is a mid-ocean ridge on the Indian Ocean floor named for its near-parallel strike along the 90th meridian at the center of the Eastern Hemisphere. It is approximately 5,000 kilometres (3,100 mi) in length and can be traced topographically from the Bay of Bengal southward towards the Southeast Indian Ridge (SEIR), though the feature continues to the north where it is hidden beneath the sediments of the Bengal Fan. The ridge extends between latitudes 31°S and 9°N and has an average width of 200 km (120 mi). (Full article...)
The Trinity Mountains are a subrange of the Klamath Mountains, one of the ranges within the California Coast Ranges and part the greater Pacific Coast Ranges, the coastal mountain system extending from Mexico to Alaska. The Trinity Mountains subrange rises in Siskiyou County and eastern Trinity County, Northern California.
The Salvesen Mountains or Salvesen Range is a mountain range on the southern tip of South Georgia, rising to a maximum elevation of 2,330 metres (7,644 ft). They were created 127 million years ago and are made mainly from granite. The Cretaceous granite is embedded into the Jurassicbasalticlavas and doleritedykes. Both of which are black so they create a striking colour contrast in exposures. Both the granite and the basalt were formed from rising magma formed on the divergent plate boundary where the southern Atlantic Ocean opened. The main ranges of South Georgia famously crossed by Ernest Shackleton in 1916, are less rugged and precipitous than the Salvesen Mountains as they are formed from folded sandstone. These were formed from sand deposition, the sediment for which was derived from erosion of the igneous rocks and rifting continental blocks.
The range was surveyed by the South Georgia Survey, 1951–52, and named for Sir Harold Salvesen, a director of Messrs. Chr. Salvesen and Co., Leith, who gave great assistance to the SGS, 1951–52 and 1953–54. (Full article...)
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Phnom Voar (Khmer: ភ្នំវល្លិ) is a small range of mountains in southern Cambodia. The mountain range is located in Damnak Chang'eaur District of Kep Province, near the border with Kampot Province. This relatively isolated range became notorious as a battleground during the Cambodian Civil War, when it was a base for communist insurgent forces and the target of significant bombing by B-52s and other air strikes.
The main north south railway line between Phnom Penh and Sihanoukville runs along the base of the mountain. National road 33 between Kampong Trach and Kampot also runs nearby. However, there are few roads or paths within the mountains and only two permanent communities: Chamkar Bei and Rones villages. (Full article...)
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The Arakan Mountains, natively referred as Rakhine Yoma (Burmese: ရခိုင်ရိုးမ) and technically known as the Southern Indo-Burman Range, are a mountain range in western Myanmar, between the coast of Rakhine State and the Central Myanmar Basin, in which flows the Irrawaddy River. It is the most prominent of a series of parallel ridges that arc through Assam, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Myanmar.
The Cordillera Occidental or Western Cordillera of Bolivia is part of the Andes (that is also part of the American Cordillera), a mountain range characterized by volcanic activity, making up the natural border with Chile and starting in the north with Juqhuri and ending in the south at the Licancabur volcano, which is on the southern limit of Bolivia with Chile. The border goes through the innominated point located at two-thirds of elevation of Licancabur's northeastern slope at the southwestermost point of Bolivia at 22° 49' 41" south and 67° 52' 35" west. The climate of the region is cold and inadequate for animal and plant life. Its main feature is its ground, in which are large quantities of metallic minerals including gold, silver, copper, and others.The range consists of three sections:
The northern section, in which you can find the highest peaks in Bolivia, tallest of which is the volcano Sajama at 6,542 meters. Sajama is perennially covered in snow. It contains the volcanoes Pomerape and Parinacota (called Payachata collectively), the latter being a dormant volcano with a cone of snow similar to Mount Fuji in Japan.
The central section, situated between Uyuni and Coipasa. Its most prominent summit is the Ollagüe (Ullawi) volcano on the border with Chile.
The southern section, characterized by volcanic activity and by having sandstorms and fog, taking into account Licancabur, which is 5,920 meters high (but only two-thirds of the northeastern slope of the volcano belong to Bolivia up to 5415 meters). The lakes Laguna Colorada and Laguna Verde can be found on Licancabur, so named because of their respective colors.
Deshat (def. 'Deshati'; Macedonian: Dešat or Дешат) is a massif situated in the Korab mountain range, on the border between Albania and North Macedonia. Positioned at the southeastern tip of the range, it is bounded by the Dibër basin to the south (known as Gryka e Radikës), Banja stream valley to the north, Black Drin valley to the west, and Radikë valley (the right branch of the Black Drin) to the east.
The Deshat watershed serves as a dividing line between both countries. The larger section of the massif is located within Albania proper, including the two highest peaks, Velivar 2,372 m (7,782 ft) and Kërçinë 2,342 m (7,684 ft). (Full article...)
{{ Transclude list item excerpts as random slideshow | List of dams and reservoirs | section=Africa | sectiononly=yes }} Should pick only the international dams
The Maguga Dam is a dam on the Komati River in Eswatini. It is 115 metres (377 ft) high and is located about 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) south of Piggs Peak. It was built as a joint project of the governments of South Africa and Eswatini. As of 2005, it was the largest public works project ever undertaken by Eswatini. The dam was completed in mid-2001. (Full article...)
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Bangala Dam lies in south-eastern Zimbabwe, south of Masvingo. It was built by Concor to provide irrigation water to the farming estates on the lowveld to the southwest, around the town of Triangle, where the main crop has been sugar cane.
The Bin el Ouidane Dam is an arch dam located 28 kilometres (17 mi) south of Beni Mellal on the El-Abid River in Azilal Province, Morocco. Designed by Coyne et Bellier and constructed between 1949 and 1953, the purpose of the dam is hydroelectric power production and irrigation. Its 135 MW (181,000 hp) power station produces an average of 287 gigawatt-hours (1,030 TJ) annually and water from the reservoir helps irrigate 69,500 hectares (172,000 acres) in the Beni Moussa and Tadla plains. (Full article...)
The Bujagali Power Station is a hydroelectric power station across the Victoria Nile that harnesses the energy of its namesake, the Bujagali Falls, in Uganda. Construction began in 2007 and concluded in 2012. It was officially inaugurated on 8 October 2012 by Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni and Aga Khan IV in the presence of African politicians and investors.
The 250-megawatt power station was the largest hydroelectric energy source in Uganda when it was commissioned. However, the planned Karuma and Ayago power stations would be larger. The funding for the station was a source of some concern, as investors joined and departed from the project. As of July 2014, the plant was managed by Bujagali Energy Limited, which selected Italian contractor Salini Impregilo to develop the project. (Full article...)
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The Hassan I Dam is an embankment dam located 19 kilometres (12 mi) northeast of Demnate on the Lakhdar River in Azilal Province, Morocco. Completed in 1986, the dam provides water for the irrigation of over 40,000 hectares (99,000 acres) of farmland. The dam's hydroelectric power plant also generates 132 gigawatt-hours (480 TJ) on average annually. At 145 metres (476 ft) in height, it is the tallest dam in Morocco and the tallest earth-fill dam in Africa. The dam is named after Hassan I of Morocco. (Full article...)
Mare aux Vacoas is the largest reservoir in Mauritius. It is located in Plaines Wilhems, in the southwest of the island, to the south of the town of Curepipe. It has a capacity of 25,890,000 cubic metres (914,000,000 cu ft) and provides water to the upper Plaines Wilhems and to Moka. It was constructed in 1885. (Full article...)
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The Gwenoro Dam is located inside Gwenoro Farm, an estate formerly owned by Ian Douglas Smith (1919-2007), a former Prime Minister of Rhodesia. The farm was seized in stages by the Government of Zimbabwe from Ian Smith and his family between 2002 and December 2012. The Gwenoro Dam supplies water to nearby Gweru and Shurugwi in Zimbabwe. The dam is constructed on the Runde River (formerly Lundi River; a medium density suburb in Gweru is named after the river (Lundi Park)). The name Gwenoro is derived from a wild animal found in the area known in the local language of Shona as Nhoro (gweNORO), which means a 'place inhabited by Nhoro'. The area is very beautiful and picturesque. The dam is full from January to June. Fish co-operatives are sprouting around the banks of this river. ZIMASCO used to run a mine club but has since stopped. What remains are only buildings. (Full article...)
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The Banieya Dam is an embankment dam on the Samou River in the Kindia Region of Guinea. It is located 16 km (9.9 mi) west of Kindia. The dam was completed by 1969 for the purpose of water supply. A hydroelectric power station of 5.2 megawatts (7,000 hp) was commissioned at the dam's toe in 1988. The Kale Dam, which also supports a hydroelectric power station, is located downstream. (Full article...)
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Lake Mutirikwi, originally known as Lake Kyle or Kyle Dam, lies in south eastern Zimbabwe, south east of Masvingo. It is thought to have been named after Kyle Farm which occupied most of the land required for the lake, which in turn was named after the Kyle district in Scotland from which the pioneer of the Lowveld, Tom Murray MacDougall came originally.
The lake covers about 90 km2 (35 sq mi) and was created in 1960 with the construction of the Kyle Dam on the Mutirikwi River. The dam was built by Concor to provide water to the farming estates on the lowveld to the southwest, around the town of Triangle, where the main crop has been sugar cane.
In the 1980s, drought drastically lowered the water level in the lake, but during the 1990s it recovered. The level fluctuates widely due to irrigation demands and the seasonal rainfall. (Full article...)
Lake Mutirikwi, originally known as Lake Kyle or Kyle Dam, lies in south eastern Zimbabwe, south east of Masvingo. It is thought to have been named after Kyle Farm which occupied most of the land required for the lake, which in turn was named after the Kyle district in Scotland from which the pioneer of the Lowveld, Tom Murray MacDougall came originally.
The lake covers about 90 km2 (35 sq mi) and was created in 1960 with the construction of the Kyle Dam on the Mutirikwi River. The dam was built by Concor to provide water to the farming estates on the lowveld to the southwest, around the town of Triangle, where the main crop has been sugar cane.
In the 1980s, drought drastically lowered the water level in the lake, but during the 1990s it recovered. The level fluctuates widely due to irrigation demands and the seasonal rainfall. (Full article...)
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The Von Bach Dam (originally the Sartorius von Bach Dam) is a rock-fill embankment dam on the Swakop River near Okahandja in the Otjozondjupa Region of Namibia. Built in 1968 and commissioned in 1970, the dam provides Namibia's capital of Windhoek with much of the city's water. It also supplies Okahandja. The dam has a capacity of 48.56 million cubic metres (63,510,000 cu yd). Water from the reservoir is sent directly to a water treatment plant downstream. The treatment plant was completed in 1971 and upgraded in 1997. (Full article...)
The Gwenoro Dam is located inside Gwenoro Farm, an estate formerly owned by Ian Douglas Smith (1919-2007), a former Prime Minister of Rhodesia. The farm was seized in stages by the Government of Zimbabwe from Ian Smith and his family between 2002 and December 2012. The Gwenoro Dam supplies water to nearby Gweru and Shurugwi in Zimbabwe. The dam is constructed on the Runde River (formerly Lundi River; a medium density suburb in Gweru is named after the river (Lundi Park)). The name Gwenoro is derived from a wild animal found in the area known in the local language of Shona as Nhoro (gweNORO), which means a 'place inhabited by Nhoro'. The area is very beautiful and picturesque. The dam is full from January to June. Fish co-operatives are sprouting around the banks of this river. ZIMASCO used to run a mine club but has since stopped. What remains are only buildings. (Full article...)
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Hombolo Dam is a dam in Tanzania. It is at Hombolo-Bwawani village, in Dodoma-rural District. The dam was constructed by the colonial government in 1957 for irrigation, domestic water supply, and water for livestock. (Full article...)
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The Kpong Dam, also known as the Akuse Dam, is a hydroelectric power generating dam on the lower Volta River near Akuse in Ghana. It is owned and operated by Volta River Authority. It was constructed between 1977 and 1982. Its power station has a capacity of 148 megawatts (198,000 hp) with all four units running, though the total nameplate capacity is 160 megawatts (210,000 hp).
The project supplements power production from Akosombo Dam, for the smelting of aluminium at VALCO in Tema. The project is located about 24 kilometres (15 mi) downstream of Akosombo Dam, and is about 80 kilometres (50 mi) from the city of Accra.
Because the reservoir upstream of the dam is relatively small, the plant operates as a "run-of-the-river" project, with river flow controlled at Akosombo. The design head of water at the plant is 11.75 metres (38.5 ft); the low head required the use of unusually large turbines for their power rating, with a Francis runner diameter of 8.2 metres (27 ft). The powerhouse is 148 metres (486 ft) long, 40 metres (130 ft) wide and 64 metres (210 ft). The main dam is made of earth with rockfill facing and is 18 metres (59 ft) high and 240 metres (790 ft) long. Dikes on the banks are 2,100 and 3,500 metres (6,900 and 11,500 ft) long. The spillway has a design capacity of 20,000 cubic metres per second (710,000 cu ft/s) and has 15 radial gates, each 11 metres (36 ft) wide by 13.5 metres (44 ft) high, with a total length of 280 metres (920 ft). The civil contractor for the project was Impregilo of Italy. Other components of the project include a 161 kV switchyard and transmission lines, four villages constructed to house people displaced by the project, and road construction.
In addition to power generation, the project provides irrigation water for agriculture, and municipal water supply. Bilharzia is a health hazard in the region which has increased since the construction of the dam. (Full article...)
The Kariba Dam is a double curvature concrete arch dam in the Kariba Gorge of the Zambezi river basin between Zambia and Zimbabwe. The dam stands 128 metres (420 ft) tall and 579 metres (1,900 ft) long. The dam forms Lake Kariba, which extends for 280 kilometres (170 mi) and holds 185 cubic kilometres (150,000,000 acre⋅ft) of water. (Full article...)
The Gilgel Gibe III Dam is a 250m high roller-compacted concrete dam with an associated hydroelectric power plant on the Omo River in Ethiopia. It is located about 62 km (39 mi) west of Sodo in the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region. Once fully commissioned, it will be the third largest hydroelectric plant in Africa with a power output of about 1,870 Megawatt (MW), thus more than doubling Ethiopia's total installed capacity from its 2007 level of 814 MW. The Gibe III dam is part of the Gibe cascade, a series of dams including the existing Gibe I dam (184 MW) and Gibe II power station (420 MW) as well as the planned Gibe IV (1,472 MW) and Gibe V (560 MW) dams. The existing dams are owned and operated by the state-owned Ethiopian Electric Power, which is also the client for the Gibe III Dam.
The US$1.8 billion project began in 2006 and electricity generation started in October 2015. The remaining generators were operational by 2016. The project has experienced serious delays; in May 2012, full commissioning had been scheduled for June 2013. The dam was inaugurated by Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn on 17 December 2016.
Local and international environmental groups forecast major negative environmental and social impacts of the dam and criticized the project's environmental and social impact assessment as insufficient. Because of this and accusations that the entire approval process for the project was suspect, funding for the full construction cost was not secured, as the African Development Bank delayed a decision about a loan pending a review of the dam's environmental impact by its compliance review and mediation unit. This dates back to August 2009 when they accepted a call from NGOs for such a review. In August 2010 Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi vowed to complete the dam "at any cost", saying the dam's critics "don’t want to see developed Africa; they want us to remain undeveloped and backward to serve their tourists as a museum." (Full article...)
The Akosombo Dam, also known as the Volta Dam, is a hydroelectric dam on the Volta River in southeastern Ghana in the Akosombo gorge and part of the Volta River Authority. The construction of the dam flooded part of the Volta River Basin and led to the subsequent creation of Lake Volta. Lake Volta is the largest man-made lake in the world by surface area. It covers 8,502 square kilometres (3,283 sq mi), which is 3.6% of Ghana's land area. With a volume of 148 cubic kilometers, Lake Volta is the world's third largest man-made lake by volume; the largest being Lake Kariba which contains 185 cubic kilometers of water.
The primary purpose of the Akosombo Dam was to provide electricity for the aluminium industry. The Akosombo Dam was called "the largest single investment in the economic development plans of Ghana." The dam is significant for providing the majority of both Togo and Benin's electricity, although the construction of the Adjarala Dam (on Togo's Mono River) hopes to reduce these countries' reliance on imported electricity. The dam's original electrical output was 912 megawatts (1,223,000 hp), which was upgraded to 1,020 megawatts (1,370,000 hp) in a retrofit project that was completed in 2006.
The flooding that created the Lake Volta reservoir displaced many people and had a significant impact on the local environment, including seismic activity that led to coastal erosion; a changed hydrology caused microclimatic changes with less rain and higher temperatures. The soil surrounding the lake is less fertile than the soil under it, and heavy agricultural use has required the use of fertilizers, which in turn has led to eutrophication, which caused, among others, the explosive growth of an invasive weed that renders water navigation and transportation difficult, and form a habitat for the vectors of water-borne illnesses such as bilharzia, river blindness and malaria. Resettlement of the displaced inhabitants proved complex and in some cases unsuccessful; traditional farming practices disappeared and poverty increased. (Full article...)
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The Mohamed V Dam is an arch-gravity dam located 35 kilometres (22 mi) south of Zaio on the Moulouya River in Oujda-Angad Province, Morocco. The primary purpose of the dam is supplying water for the irrigation of 70,000 hectares (170,000 acres) downstream. Water is also used for hydroelectric power production and water supply to the city of Nador. The dam is named after Mohammed V of Morocco. The dam's reservoir and wetlands were designated as a Ramsar site in 2005. (Full article...)
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Ayago Hydroelectric Power Station, also Ayago Power Station, is a planned 840 megawatt hydroelectric power project to be constructed in Uganda. If it is built, Ayago would be the largest power station in Uganda, based on generating capacity. (Full article...)
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The Bujagali Power Station is a hydroelectric power station across the Victoria Nile that harnesses the energy of its namesake, the Bujagali Falls, in Uganda. Construction began in 2007 and concluded in 2012. It was officially inaugurated on 8 October 2012 by Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni and Aga Khan IV in the presence of African politicians and investors.
The 250-megawatt power station was the largest hydroelectric energy source in Uganda when it was commissioned. However, the planned Karuma and Ayago power stations would be larger. The funding for the station was a source of some concern, as investors joined and departed from the project. As of July 2014, the plant was managed by Bujagali Energy Limited, which selected Italian contractor Salini Impregilo to develop the project. (Full article...)
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The Kandadji Dam, is a large multipurpose dam under construction on the Niger River. The site is situated near the small town of Kandadji, Tillabéri Department, Tillabéri Region, Niger, 180 km northwest of the capital Niamey. It is being built by the Haut Commissariat à l'Aménagement de la Vallée du Niger (High Commission for Niger Valley), a public body under the Primer Minister's Office.
The dam will generate hydropower and is control the flow of the Niger River, holding water during the dry season to maintain a minimum flow and making downstream irrigation possible. The project is formally named the Kandadji Programme for Ecosystem Regeneration and Niger River Development (Programme Kandadji de Régénération des Ecosystèmes et de Mise en Valeur du Fleuve Niger). (Full article...)
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Outline of underwater diving § Modes of underwater diving
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