HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The Keban Dam ( tr, Keban Barajı) is a hydroelectric
dam 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 ...
on the
Euphrates The Euphrates () is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of Western Asia. Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia ( ''the land between the rivers''). Originating in Turkey, the Eup ...
, located in the
Elazığ Province Elazığ Province ( tr, ; Zazaki: Suke Xarpêt; ku, Parêzgeha Xarpêtê) is a province of Turkey with its seat in the city of Elazığ. The province had a population of 568,753 in 2014. The population of the province was 569,616 in 2000 and ...
of
Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...
. The dam is the first and uppermost of several large-scale dams to be built on the Euphrates by Turkey. Although the Keban Dam was not originally constructed as a part of the Southeastern Anatolia Project (GAP), it is now a fully integrated component of the project, which aims to stimulate economic development in Southeastern Turkey. Construction of the dam commenced in 1966 and was completed in 1974. Keban Dam Lake ( tr, Keban Baraj Gölü), the reservoir created by Keban Dam, has a surface area of and is reputedly the fourth-largest lake in Turkey after
Lake Van Lake Van ( tr, Van Gölü; hy, Վանա լիճ, translit=Vana lič̣; ku, Gola Wanê) is the largest lake in Turkey. It lies in the far east of Turkey, in the provinces of Van and Bitlis in the Armenian highlands. It is a saline soda lake ...
,
Lake Tuz Lake Tuz ( tr, Tuz Gölü meaning 'Salt Lake'; anciently Tatta — grc, ἡ Τάττα, la, Tatta Lacus) was the second largest lake in Turkey with its surface area and one of the largest hypersaline lakes in the world. It is located in the C ...
, and the reservoir created by the
Atatürk Dam The Atatürk Dam ( tr, Atatürk Barajı), originally the Karababa Dam, is the third largest dam in the world and it is a zoned rock-fill dam with a central core on the Euphrates River on the border of Adıyaman Province and Şanlıurfa Province ...
.


Project history

Construction of the Keban Dam was first proposed in 1936 by the newly established Electric Affairs Survey Administration, but not started before 1966. Construction was carried out by the French-Italian consortium SCI-Impreglio and completed in 1974. Estimates of the total construction cost vary between US$85 million and US$300 million. At that time, archaeological rescue missions had also been carried out at important sites that were to be flooded. Flooding of the reservoir started in 1974 and led to the displacement of 25,000 people. During the flooding of the Keban Reservoir, Turkey maintained the discharge of the Euphrates at per second, as agreed with the downstream countries of Syria and
Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and K ...
. However, as a result of the fact that Syria was at that time filling the reservoir of its newly constructed
Tabqa Dam The Tabqa Dam ( ar, سَدُّ الطَّبْقَةِ, Sadd aṭ-Ṭabqah, ku, Bendava Tebqa; syc, ܣܟܪܐ ܕܛܒܩܗ, Sekro d'Tabqa), or al-Thawra Dam as it is also named ( ar, سَدُّ الثَّوْرَةِ, Sadd aṯ-Ṯawrah, ku, Bendav ...
as well, in 1975 a dispute broke out between Syria and Iraq over the amount of water that flowed into Iraq. This dispute, exacerbated by drought which reduced the amount of available water even further, was solved by mediation of
Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...
. After the initial filling of the lake, geological weaknesses in the bedrock on which the dam was built necessitated a temporary lowering of the lake level in order to carry out extensive reinforcement works. Reportedly, Keban Dam was the world's eighteenth-tallest dam at completion, creating Turkey's largest man-made reservoir and third-largest lake until the filling of the reservoir of the Atatürk Dam. The construction of the dam and its subsequent reservoir resulted in involuntary resettlement of approximately 25,000 people.


Archaeological rescue work

From 1968 to 1974, the Euphrates and
Murat River The Murat River, also called Eastern Euphrates ( tr, Murat Nehri, , hy, Արածանի, translit=Aratsani), is a major source of the Euphrates River. The Ancient Greeks and Romans used to call the river ''Arsanias'' ( gr, Ἀρσανίας). It ...
valleys were the scene of intense archaeological survey and excavation in advance of flooding. The lake formed by the dam is mostly narrow, hemmed in by deep rock valleys. No archaeological sites were found in the survey of these valleys. The Murat valley opens up in two places, and it is here that archaeological (and modern) settlement was concentrated. The Aşvan region, covering about , contained eleven archaeological sites, all relatively small. The largest, Aşvan Kale, covered about in total; this site, as well as three others were excavated by the British Institute of Archaeology at
Ankara Ankara ( , ; ), historically known as Ancyra and Angora, is the capital of Turkey. Located in the central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5.1 million in its urban center and over 5.7 million in Ankara Province, maki ...
: Taşkun Mevkii, Çayboyu and Taşkun Kale. The other broadening of the valley, at the Altınova plain (
Elazığ Province Elazığ Province ( tr, ; Zazaki: Suke Xarpêt; ku, Parêzgeha Xarpêtê) is a province of Turkey with its seat in the city of Elazığ. The province had a population of 568,753 in 2014. The population of the province was 569,616 in 2000 and ...
), was a well-defined area of thick and fertile alluvial soil. Archaeological survey located 36 sites, of which one, Norşuntepe, covered , being by far the largest site in the region. It was excavated by a German team led by Harald Hauptmann. The Altınova plain contained other relatively large mounds, including Tepecik (), Korucutepe (), Değirmentepe () and Körtepe (). The late Roman
Karamagara Bridge The Karamagara Bridge ( tr, Karamağara Köprüsü, "Bridge of the Black Cave") is a Byzantine or late Roman bridge in the ancient region of Cappadocia in eastern Turkey, and possibly the earliest known pointed arch bridge. The bridge, along ...
, a notable example of an early pointed arch bridge, has been permanently submerged by the dam. The area of rescue excavations is well covered in the work by Fahri Dikkaya.


Characteristics of the dam and the reservoir

The Keban Dam is a combined rockfill and concrete
gravity In physics, gravity () is a fundamental interaction which causes mutual attraction between all things with mass or energy. Gravity is, by far, the weakest of the four fundamental interactions, approximately 1038 times weaker than the stro ...
hydroelectric dam operated by the
State Hydraulic Works The State Hydraulic Works ( tr, Devlet Su İşleri) is a state agency, under the Ministry of Environment and Forestry of Turkey, responsible for the utilization of all the country's water resources. The institution's four major functions are ene ...
(DSİ). The dam is long and its crest is above the level of the river-bed ( above sea-level). Its eight
water turbine A water turbine is a rotary machine that converts kinetic energy and potential energy of water into mechanical work. Water turbines were developed in the 19th century and were widely used for industrial power prior to electrical grids. Now, ...
s are capable of producing 1,330  MW. The storage capacity of Lake Keban is and the surface area of the lake is , although the lake has reportedly reached higher levels in the past. Due to Lake Keban's relatively high elevation at above sea-level and its location in an area with high precipitation, evaporation is relatively low at per year compared to reservoirs in Syria or Iraq. Apart from the Euphrates Valley directly upstream of the dam, the lake has also flooded parts of valleys of the
Murat River The Murat River, also called Eastern Euphrates ( tr, Murat Nehri, , hy, Արածանի, translit=Aratsani), is a major source of the Euphrates River. The Ancient Greeks and Romans used to call the river ''Arsanias'' ( gr, Ἀρσανίας). It ...
and the Karasu, the two rivers from which the Euphrates emerges. Although the dam was not originally intended for irrigation, of agricultural land was irrigated from Lake Keban in 1999.


See also

* Ağın Bridge, aka Ağın (Karamağara) Bridge named in remembrance of the submerged ancient Karamağara Bridge, was Turkey's fourth longest bridge when it was built in 2015.


Notes


References

* * * * * * * * *


External links


Keban District official website

Official GAP website
{{Fifty civil engineering feats in Turkey Dams in Elazığ Province Irrigation in Turkey Hydroelectric power stations in Turkey Dams on the Euphrates River Dams completed in 1974 Rock-filled dams Important Bird Areas of Turkey