Alcantarilla dam
| Alcantarilla dam | |||||
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| Coordinates | 39 ° 39 '36 " N , 4 ° 3' 28" W | ||||
| Data on the structure | |||||
| Lock type: | Gravity dam | ||||
| Construction time: | 1st century AD | ||||
| Height of the barrier structure : | 20 m | ||||
| Crown length: | > 800 m | ||||
| Base width: | 4 m? | ||||
The Alcantarilla dam was a Roman gravity dam in the province of Toledo in Castile-La Mancha ( Spain ) from the 1st century AD. The dam has probably been in ruins since Roman times. The Proserpina Dam near Mérida shows a similar development and construction .
Location and structure
The dam encircled the Guajaraz River , a tributary of the Tagus , well up in its course; and formed the upper part of the Roman water supply of Toledo . It was 800 meters long, the greatest height is estimated to be 15 to 20 meters. The structure consisted of a dam-shaped embankment made of sandy clays and a dam wall upstream from it, about four meters thick at the base. The dam had a lime concrete core ( Opus caementitium ) and was covered on both sides with masonry ( Opus incertum ) of varying thickness. It consisted mainly of carefully hewn natural stone on the upstream side and had no weir as an overflow in times of great water pressure. The remains of two intake towers, however, testify that at least there the water could drain off at such times.
The cause of the dam failure, which led to the dam's destruction, is attributed to the small thickness of the dam wall, which could not withstand the lateral pressure of the earthworks , which may have been saturated with water during a flood .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Arenillas & Castillo (2003)
- ^ Miguel Arenillas, Juan C. Castillo: Dams from the Roman Era in Spain. Analysis of Design Forms (with appendix). Retrieved June 9, 2010 .
literature
- Miguel Arenillas, Juan C. Castillo: Dams from the Roman Era in Spain. Analysis of Design Forms (with appendix). In: Santiago Huerta (ed.): Proceedings of the First International Congress on Construction History: Madrid, 20th – 24th January 2003 , Instituto Juan de Herrera, Madrid 2003, ISBN 84-9728-070-9
- A. Trevor Hodge: Roman Aqueducts & Water Supply London 1992, Duckworth Verlag, pp. 87-89, ISBN 0-7156-2194-7
- Niklaus Schnitter: Roman dams. In: Antike Welt , Vol. 8, No. 2 (1978), pp. 25–32 (29)
- Norman Smith: A History of Dams. London 1971, Peter Davies Verlag, p. 48, ISBN 0432150900