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Chalillo Dam
The Chalillo Dam is a gravity dam on the Macal River about 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. Location Chalillo Hydroelectric Dam is situated in the westernmost part of the country where the Macal River converges with the Raspaculo River. It is located in the Maya Mountains and shares adjacency with the Chiquibul National Park and the Pine Ridge Forest Reserve. Positioning Chalil ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roller-compacted Concrete
Roller-compacted concrete (RCC) or rolled concrete (rollcrete) is a special blend of concrete that has essentially the same ingredients as conventional concrete but in different ratios, and increasingly with partial substitution of fly ash for Portland cement. The partial substitution of fly ash for Portland Cement is an important aspect of RCC dam construction because the heat generated by fly ash hydration is significantly less than the heat generated by Portland Cement hydration. This in turn reduces the thermal loads on the dam and reduces the potential for thermal cracking to occur. RCC is a mix of cement/fly ash, water, sand, aggregate and common additives, but contains much less water. The produced mix is drier and essentially has no slump. RCC is placed in a manner similar to paving; the material is delivered by dump trucks or conveyors, spread by small bulldozers or specially modified asphalt pavers, and then compacted by vibratory rollers. In dam construction, roll ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kaplan Turbine
The Kaplan turbine is a propeller-type water turbine which has adjustable blades. It was developed in 1913 by Austrian professor Viktor Kaplan, who combined automatically adjusted propeller blades with automatically adjusted wicket gates to achieve efficiency over a wide range of flow and water level. The Kaplan turbine was an evolution of the Francis turbine. Its invention allowed efficient power production in low-head applications which was not possible with Francis turbines. The head ranges from and the output ranges from 5 to 200 MW. Runner diameters are between . Turbines rotate at a constant rate, which varies from facility to facility. That rate ranges from as low as 54.5 rpm (Albeni Falls Dam) to 450 rpm. Kaplan turbines are now widely used throughout the world in high-flow, low-head power production. Development Viktor Kaplan, living in Brünn, Austria-Hungary (now Brno, Czechia), obtained his first patent for an adjustable blade propeller turbine in 1912. But t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gravity Dams
A gravity dam is a dam constructed from concrete or stone masonry and designed to hold back water by using only the weight of the material and its resistance against the foundation to oppose the horizontal pressure of water pushing against it. Gravity dams are designed so that each section of the dam is stable and independent of any other dam section. Characteristics Gravity dams generally require stiff rock foundations of high bearing strength (slightly weathered to fresh), although in rare cases, they have been built on soil foundations. The bearing strength of the foundation limits the allowable position of the resultant force, influencing the overall stability. Also, the stiff nature of the gravity dam structure is unforgiving to differential foundation settlement, which can induce cracking of the dam structure. Gravity dams provide some advantages over embankment dams, the main advantage being that they can tolerate minor over-topping flows without damage, as the concre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dams Completed In 2005
A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, tap water, human consumption, Industrial water, industrial use, aquaculture, and navigability. Hydropower is often used in conjunction with dams to generate electricity. A dam can also be used to collect or store water which can be evenly distributed between locations. Dams generally serve the primary purpose of retaining water, while other structures such as floodgates or levees (also known as Dike (construction), dikes) are used to manage or prevent water flow into specific land regions. The earliest known dam is the Jawa Dam (Jordan), Jawa Dam in Jordan, dating to 3,000 BC. The word ''dam'' can be traced back to Middle English, and before that, from Middle Dutch, as seen in the names of many old cities, such as Amsterdam and Rotterdam. History Ancient dams Early dam build ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dams In Belize
A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use, aquaculture, and navigability. Hydropower is often used in conjunction with dams to generate electricity. A dam can also be used to collect or store water which can be evenly distributed between locations. Dams generally serve the primary purpose of retaining water, while other structures such as floodgates or levees (also known as dikes) are used to manage or prevent water flow into specific land regions. The earliest known dam is the Jawa Dam in Jordan, dating to 3,000 BC. The word ''dam'' can be traced back to Middle English, and before that, from Middle Dutch, as seen in the names of many old cities, such as Amsterdam and Rotterdam. History Ancient dams Early dam building took place in Mesopotamia and the Middle East. Dams were us ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bruce Barcott
Bruce Barcott is an American editor, environmental journalist and author. He is a contributing editor of '' Outside'' and has written articles for ''The New York Times Magazine'', '' National Geographic'', ''Mother Jones'', ''Sports Illustrated'', '' Harper's Magazine'', ''Legal Affairs'', ''Utne Reader'' and others. He has also written a number of books, including ''The Measure of a Mountain: Beauty and Terror on Mount Rainier'' (1997) and ''The Last Flight of the Scarlet Macaw: One Woman's Fight to Save the World's Most Beautiful Bird'' (2008). In 2009 he was named a Guggenheim Fellow in nonfiction. Barcott was born in Everett, Washington, and raised in Alaska, California and Washington. After graduating from the University of Washington, he worked for ''Seattle Weekly'' for ten years as a writer and editor. He lives on Bainbridge Island, Washington, with his wife and fellow writer Claire Dederer; they have two children. He was a Ted Scripps Fellow in Environmental Journalism at ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Judicial Committee Of The Privy Council
The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (JCPC) is the highest court of appeal for the Crown Dependencies, the British Overseas Territories, some Commonwealth countries and a few institutions in the United Kingdom. Established on 14 August 1833 to hear appeals formerly heard by the King-in-Council, the Privy Council formerly acted as the court of last resort for the entire British Empire, other than for the United Kingdom itself.P. A. Howell, ''The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, 1833–1876: Its Origins, Structure, and Development'', Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1979 Formally a statutory committee of His Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, the Judicial Committee consists of senior judges who are Privy Councillors; they are predominantly Justices of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom and senior judges from the Commonwealth of Nations. Although it is often simply referred to as the 'Privy Council', the Judicial Committee is only one cons ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
San Ignacio, Belize
San Ignacio and Santa Elena are towns in western Belize. San Ignacio serves as the cultural-economic hub of Cayo District. It got its start from mahogany and chicle production during British colonisation. Over time it attracted people from the surrounding areas, which led to the diverse population of the town today. San Ignacio is the largest settlement in Cayo District and the second largest in the country, after Belize City. History The town was originally named El Cayo by the Spanish. On 19 October 1904, El Cayo was officially declared a town by the government of British Honduras. In the past a creek ran between the Macal and the Mopan rivers one mile outside of San Ignacio going toward Benque Viejo. This creek then fulfilled the definition of an area of land completely surrounded by water and thus the name Cayo, "island". There was a large wooden bridge across this creek in the late 1940s, but since the creek eventually dried up, the area was filled with limestone gravel and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fault (geology)
In geology, a fault is a planar fracture or discontinuity in a volume of rock across which there has been significant displacement as a result of rock-mass movements. Large faults within Earth's crust result from the action of plate tectonic forces, with the largest forming the boundaries between the plates, such as the megathrust faults of subduction zones or transform faults. Energy release associated with rapid movement on active faults is the cause of most earthquakes. Faults may also displace slowly, by aseismic creep. A ''fault plane'' is the plane that represents the fracture surface of a fault. A ''fault trace'' or ''fault line'' is a place where the fault can be seen or mapped on the surface. A fault trace is also the line commonly plotted on geologic maps to represent a fault. A ''fault zone'' is a cluster of parallel faults. However, the term is also used for the zone of crushed rock along a single fault. Prolonged motion along closely spaced faults can blur the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Scarlet Macaw
The scarlet macaw (''Ara macao'') is a large red, yellow, and blue Central and South American parrot, a member of a large group of Neotropical parrots called macaws. It is native to humid evergreen forests of the Neotropics. Its range extends from south-eastern Mexico to Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Bolivia, Venezuela and Brazil in lowlands of (at least formerly) up to , the Caribbean island of Trinidad, as well as the Pacific island of Coiba. Formerly, it ranged north to southern Tamaulipas. In some areas, it has suffered local extinction because of habitat destruction, or capture for the parrot trade, but in other areas, it remains fairly common. It is the national bird of Honduras. Like its relative the blue-and-yellow macaw, the scarlet macaw is a popular bird in aviculture as a result of its striking plumage. Taxonomy The scarlet macaw was formally described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his ''Systema Naturae'' under the binomial name ' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Penstock
A penstock is a sluice or gate or intake structure that controls water flow, or an enclosed pipe that delivers water to hydro turbines and sewerage systems. The term is inherited from the earlier technology of mill ponds and watermills. Hydroelectric systems and dams Penstocks for hydroelectric installations are normally equipped with a gate system and a surge tank. They can be a combination of many components such as anchor block, drain valve, air bleed valve, and support piers depending on the application. Flow is regulated by turbine operation and is nil when turbines are not in service. Penstocks, particularly where used in polluted water systems, need to be maintained by hot water washing, manual cleaning, antifouling coatings, and desiccation. The term is also used in irrigation dams to refer to the channels leading to and from high-pressure sluice gates. Penstocks are also used in mine tailings dam construction. The penstock is usually situated fairly close to the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chiquibul National Park
Chiquibul National Park is Belize's largest national park.Riley, Laura, Riley, William, 2005''Nature's Strongholds: The World's Great Wildlife Reserves'' Princeton University Press, p. 333, . It is in size. The park is located in Belize's Cayo District. The national park surrounds Caracol, a Mayan city. Caracol has been designated as an archaeological reserve and is not included within the park's total area. Chiquibul Forest Reserve is adjacent to the park. Establishment of the park Chiquibul National Park was originally part of Chiquibul Forest Reserve, which was designated in 1956. In 1991, due to lobbying from conservationists, the three-quarters of the forest reserve that did not have active logging concessions was re-designated as a national park under Belize's National Parks System Act. The park's borders were re-defined in 1995. Caracol became surrounded by the national park. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
