The Panama Canal a Challenge Met
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Table of Contents 4.0 Description of the Physical
TABLE OF CONTENTS 4.0 DESCRIPTION OF THE PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT............................................ 41 4.1 Geology ................................................................................................. 41 4.1.1 Methodology ........................................................................................ 41 4.1.2 Regional Geological Formations........................................................... 42 4.1.3 Local Geological Units ......................................................................... 47 4.1.3.1 Atlantic Coast .......................................................................... 47 4.1.3.2 Gatun Locks.............................................................................. 48 4.1.3.3 Gatun Lake ............................................................................... 49 4.1.3.4 Culebra Cut ......................................................................... ...410 4.1.3.5 Pacific Locks ...........................................................................411 4.1.3.6 Pacific Coast............................................................................412 4.1.4 Paleontological Resources ...................................................................413 4.1.5 Geotechnical Characterization .............................................................417 4.1.6 Tectonics.............................................................................................421 4.2 Geomorphology ..............................................................................................422 -
Climate Change: What Have We Already Observed?
Water resources and ecosystem services examples from Panamá, Puerto Rico, and Venezuela Matthew C. Larsen Director Ecosystem services from forested watersheds mainly product and goods - water resources - wood products - biodiversity, genetic resources, enhanced resilience to wildfire, pathogens, invasive species - recreation, ecotourism - reduced peak river flow during storms - increased availability of groundwater and base flow in streams during dry annual dry season & droughts - reduced soil erosion and landslide probability - buffer to storm surge and tsunamis [forested coastlines] Ecosystem service challenges Land use and governance - deforestation - forest fragmentation - increased wildfire frequency - urban encroachment on forest margins Climate-change - temperature & precipitation, both averages & extremes - intensity, frequency, duration of storms & droughts - sea level rise - rising atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration Climate change: What have we already observed? - 1983 to 2012: warmest 30-year period of last 1400 years northern hemisphere - 1880 to 2012: globally averaged air temps over land & 1928 ocean show warming of 0.85 °C - since 1901: increase in average mid-latitude northern hemisphere land area precipitation - 1979 to 2012: annual mean Arctic sea-ice extent decreased 3.5 to 4.1% per decade 2003 - 1901 to 2010: global mean sea level rose 0.19 m - since mid-19th century: rate of sea level rise has been larger than mean rate during previous 2000 years 2010 Source: IPCC, 2014: Climate Change 2014: Synthesis Report. Contribution of Working Groups I, II and III to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [Core South Cascade Glacier, U.S Writing Team, R.K. Pachauri and L.A. Meyer (eds.)]. IPCC, Geneva, Switzerland, 151 pp. -
Project JYP-1104 SALT INTRUSION in GATUN LAKE a Major Qualifying
Project JYP-1104 SALT INTRUSION IN GATUN LAKE A Major Qualifying Project submitted to the Faculty of WORCESTER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Bachelor of Science By Assel Akhmetova Cristina Crespo Edwin Muñiz March 11, 2012 Jeanine D. Plummer, Major Advisor Associate Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering 1. Gatun Lake 2. Salt Intrusion 3. Panama Canal Abstract The expansion of the Panama Canal is adding another lock lane to the canal, allowing passage of larger ships. Increases in the number of transits and the size of the locks may displace more salt from the oceans into the freshwater lake, Gatun Lake, which is a drinking water source for Panama City. This project evaluated future salinity levels in Gatun Lake. Water quality and hydrometeorological data were input into a predictive hydrodynamic software package to project salinity levels in the lake after the new lock system is completed. Modeling results showed that salinity levels are expected to remain in the freshwater range. In the event that the lake becomes brackish, the team designed a water treatment plant using electrodialysis reversal for salt removal and UV light disinfection. ii Executive Summary The Panama Canal runs from the Pacific Ocean in the southeast to the Atlantic Ocean in the northwest over a watershed area containing the freshwater lake, Gatun Lake. The canal facilitates the transit of 36 ships daily using three sets of locks, which displace large volumes of water into and out of Gatun Lake. The displacement of water has the potential to cause salt intrusion into the freshwater Gatun Lake. -