Largest ammunition storage sites in the world.

The largest ammunition storage sites in the world:
The Hawthorne Army Depot is said to be the largest ammunition storage site in the world. It is located near the town of Hawthorne in western Nevada in the United States. The depot covers an area of 15 kilometers by 15 kilometers (595 km²), and has 600,000 square feet (55,700 m²) of floor space in 2,427 storage bunkers. The Hawthorne Army Depot stores reserve munitions to be used after the first 30 days of a major conflict:


In terms of storage capacity the ammunition storage site at the village of Haywood in Oklahoma in the U.S seems to be the largest in the world. It covers an area of 12 kilometers by 12 kilometers, and was built because of the involvement of America in World War II:

At the turn of the twenty-first century the plant employed more than eight hundred people. Among the largest ammo storage sites in the world is also the Ammunition storage site at Tooele, located in Utah. It covers an area of 8 kilometers by 7 kilometers:

Huge dam spillways

Huge dam spillways:
I already discussed the biggest dam spillway in the world on this blog ( The spillway of the Robert Bourassa dam in canada ). These dam spillways are generally used to release the water from the water bassins behind a dam in case of a flood. These things are most of the time build in the construction of the dam itself like for example in the Itaipu dam in Paraguay which is one the biggest spillways ( 500 meters long and 350 meters wide) in the world in terms of water capacity. When water is released from this thing it makes a hell of a noise:



The biggest kind of spillways however can be found at earthfilled dams situated next to the dam instead in the structure of the dam itself. Like for example this huge spillway at the W.A.C Bennet dam in Canada:




It is 800 meters long and about 35 meters wide. Another huge one is this one at the Garrison Dam in North Dakota in the U.S. It is part of one of the world's largest earth filled dams which forms the Sakakawea Reservoir on the Missouri River. The spillway itself is 800 meters long and is almost 350 meters wide at the point where the water enters the spillway:



The most impressive and biggest concrete spillway in the world however is the spillway which is part of Fort Peck Lake dam in Montana in the U.S. The dam itself is the largest earth-filled dam in the world. The spillway is 1500 meters long and 150 meters wide:






Another earth filled dam ( which is also among the biggest earthfilled dams in the world) with impressive spillways is the Tarbela dam in Pakistan. This dam actually has 2 giant spillways. One of them has a lenght of 780 meters and a wide of 100 meters and the other one has a length of about 200 meters and a wide of 150 meters:





Another huge one is the spillway which is part of the Nagarjuna sagar dam in India. The spillway is build in the dam itself and is 500 meters wide:




And last but not least the giant dam spillway of the Ataturk dam in Turkey. This thing is 900 meters long and 150 meters wide:

Niagara falls tailrace tunnels

The Niagara falls tailrace tunnels:
Almost everybody knows about the large Niagara water falls near the town of Niagara falls on the border of Canada and the United States. But I think fewer know that there are large underground tailrace tunnels in this area which are part of the hydro electric power stations located near the waterfalls. Two of these hydro electric power station which used these large tailrace tunnels are the William B. Rankin power station and the Toronto power company generating station. Both are now out of use and were explored by an urban explorer from Canada. He has his own site where the pictures seen below are from.

The William B. Rankin power station starts here collecting the water. The water then runs trough a 2200 feet long tailrace tunnel seen in the pictures below. The turbines used to generate the electricity can be seen at the top of the tunnel:




The whole tunnel was filled with water in the past but now the power station is out of use so you are able to walk in it. The tunnel ends at a very spectacular spot below the famous horsshoe waterfall:




The Toronto power generating station (seen in the picture below ) also uses these large underground tunnels. You can see this power station in the picture below. It is clearly visible that the power station haven't been used for a long time ( for 30 years):


The tunnels of this power station are located much deeper underground as those of the William B. rankin power station and this tailrace excists of multiple tunnels instead of 1 tunnel. The tunnels are located more then ten storeys underground and are completely made of brick and are a hundred years old. The tunnels are only accessible by descending through a narrow slit in its ceiling thirty feet above the floor. But when you get down there you certainly get to a spectacular site:






In the picture below you can see the end of a trailrace line of this power station. The water flow would have crashed downward through the openings in the floor into the penstocks that made good use on the water's gravitational potential energy, driving it down to the base of the gorge where it spun great turbines at the Ontario Generating Station:

The tallest dams

The tallest dams:
When you are talking about the tallest dams in the world the Nurek dam near Nurex in Tadzjikistan takes the price for the heighest dam in the world. It has a height of 300 meters. It is seen very good in google earth with the terrain elevation layer turned on:

The water behind the dam is called the Vodohranili water bassin. The impact this dam made on this water bassin can be clearly seen at the surrounding landscape:

The lighter colored strips of shoreline in the picture above highlight the tidal water level caused by the Nurek dam. The price of the second tallest dam in the world would go to the Grand dixense dam in Switzerland. This dam has a height of 285 meters. Just click on the picture below and enlarge it to see how big this structure is when you are standing at the bottom.



The third tallest dam is the Inguri dam in Georgia with a height of 272 meters:



At the water bassin behind the Inguri dam the same " tidal" stripes can be seen at the surrounding hills as at the water bassin behind the Nurek dam:



The fourth highest dam has a relatively small wide compared to the dams mentioned above but when measured by height it is still 262 meters tall. This dam is located in Italy and is called the Vaiont dam. As you can see in the picture below the dam also has a cool walkway in front it from where you can see the dazzling height of the dam itself:



The fifth highest dam in the world with a height of 261 meters is the Tehri dam near the town of Tehri in India. This dam also has a very big spillway running next to it:


This dam is primary used as a hydro electric power plant. When it was still under construction the huge turbines that are used to generate the electricity where visible: