Qanat Knowledge Ali Asghar Semsar Yazdi • Majid Labbaf Khaneiki Qanat Knowledge Construction and Maintenance Ali Asghar Semsar Yazdi Majid Labbaf Khaneiki International Center on Qanats and Historic International Center on Qanats and Historic Hydraulic Structures (UNESCO ICQHS) Hydraulic Structures (UNESCO ICQHS) Yazd , Iran Yazd , Iran ISBN 978-94-024-0955-0 ISBN 978-94-024-0957-4 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-94-024-0957-4 Library of Congress Control Number: 2016959456 © Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2017 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifi cally the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfi lms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. 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The registered company address is: Van Godewijckstraat 30, 3311 GX Dordrecht, The Netherlands Fig. 1 Two intersecting qanats near the town of Meybod, Yazd Province, Iran (Photo by Mehdi Khebredast) v vi Fig. 2 Qanat near the town of Meybod, Yazd Province, Iran. Same photo as Fig. 1 from a different angle (Photo by Mehdi Khebredast) Fig. 3 A view from inside the qanat of Zarch in Yazd city, the longest qanat of Iran (Photo by Arshiya Khosravi) Foreword Qanats offer an ingenious solution for water supply in arid regions by creating a fl owing stream of water where nature has not so provided. This book offers a ready solution for those who wish to learn more about this fascinating part of our water history and makes accessible to the wider world the traditional knowledge gained from building and maintaining qanats for more than 2500 years. There is much more here than a summary of the nature and distribution of qanats and a more exten- sive journey through the philosophy, methods, tools, and terminology of qanat design and digging than previously assembled. This most comprehensive book on the traditional engineering, construction, and maintenance of qanats is advised by the authors’ experiences with qanat scholarship; their affi liation with UNESCO’s International Center on Qanats and Historic Hydraulic Structures (ICQHS) and the affi liated Qanat College in Yazd, Iran; and their many years of practical experience in the fi eld with indigenous practitioners of the art and engineering of qanats. The great contribution of this work is the story it tells of the ingenuity and practi- cal skills of the qanat masters who for centuries and generations have cut an uncountable number of tunnels through bedrock and alluvium using hand tools and homespun solutions to problems that would vex the most experienced university- trained engineers. Where does one begin to dig to ensure that the qanat tunnel will fl ow with water? How are practical considerations of landscape factored into the design? How are water quality and discharge measured? How does excavation pro- ceed through bedrock and unconsolidated soil, and how is this knowledge of geol- ogy and pedology acquired? How are vertical wells and tunnels excavated to maintain proper air supply, light, and water fl ow ? How does one deal with special problems like tunnel collapse , the accumulation of gasses and vapors, and the pool- ing of water during construction? How are tools and gauges designed, maintained, and used? How have qanats been incorporated into other structures like watermills, reservoirs, ice houses, and irrigation networks? And how are qanats cleaned, extended, maintained through the ages, and incorporated into modern water supplies? vii viii Foreword Engineers will be amazed by the seemingly simple solutions to mining for water and the tool kit and skill set that developed them. Scholars will be fascinated by the practical wisdom of the indigenous qanat masters and the social organization and acquisition of environmental knowledge needed to develop and maintain qanats for so many centuries. The authors have assembled a how-to guide for the design, exca- vation, and maintenance of qanats. But, much more than that, we can also feel the resolve and instinct of the qanat master and sense the faces and hands that have built these great works. Department of Geography Dale Lightfoot Oklahoma State University , Stillwater , OK , USA Pref ace When the Iranian plateau entered a dry period some 4000 years ago and its aridness culminated later in the wake of a climate change , the ancient inhabitants turned to a genius technique which enabled them to stay for thousands of years. In the desert areas of Iran, the best arable soil is situated in the low lands, while the suitable water resources are found at higher altitudes at the base of mountain ranges where a rela- tively good precipitation takes place. In fact, the qanat system solves this contradic- tion and makes a link between the two curtail factors of agricultural production: soil and water. Digging through tens of kilometers of sediments with a variety of chemi- cal and physical peculiarities entails a vast environmental knowledge which has been handed down from father to son over the past centuries. The ancient qanat builders had to come up with practical solutions for whatever problem they came across, the problems that related to different fi elds of science as we have determined today. Therefore, qanat is not only a simple gallery that extracts groundwater , but it used to put humans in closer contact with their surrounding nature and enhance their knowledge about their environment. The Neolithic livelihood was not suffi cient to adjust humans to the arid lands where fresh water and arable soil were no longer at their disposal at the same place, but humans came to terms with such a harsh condi- tion by inventing qanat, an underground tunnel which tapped groundwater and took it down to the less elevated lands. Qanat provided the inhabitants with the required skill which guaranteed their survival in one of the driest deserts of the world. In this book we have tried to shed light on the knowledge that humans have built up over centuries in order to construct or maintain qanats, and the fi gures and sketches are aimed to help us describe what is hidden underground. Yazd, Iran Ali Asghar Semsar Yazdi Majid Labbaf Khaneiki ix Acknowledgment We wish to acknowledge all the qanat masters whose expertise and knowledge paved the way for this book to come about. All the information presented in this book has arisen from numerous interviews we have had with them during the past 10 years. Also, special thanks go to Ms. Charlotte Kende and Mr. Mostafa Shafi ee Kadkani whose illustrations fl esh the book out and make it much easier for us to describe the qanat skills which are hidden underground. We also thank the International Center on Qanats and Historic Hydraulic Structures (UNESCO-ICQHS) and Tamadon Karizi Consulting Engineers (TKCE) for their precious cooperation and generous support. Eventually, we express our heartfelt gratitude to all those who have helped us in a way to shed light on the engineering feat that the traditional qanat masters and workers have created in the darkness of qanat. xi Contents 1 Introduction ............................................................................................... 1 1.1 Introduction ...................................................................................... 1 1.2 Genesis of Qanat ............................................................................... 7 1.3 Geographical Distribution of Qanats ................................................ 10 1.4 Water Division System in Qanat ....................................................... 11 1.5 Qanat Civilization ............................................................................. 13 1.6 Qanat and Wittfogel’s Theory .......................................................... 14 1.7 Qanat in Comparison with Other Water Related Structures ............. 16 References ................................................................................................... 19 2 Hydrology Mechanism of Qanat .............................................................. 21 2.1 Defi nition of Qanat ........................................................................... 21 2.2 General Mechanism of Qanat ........................................................... 22 2.3 Groundwater and Qanat .................................................................... 23 2.4 Classifi cation of Qanats .................................................................... 28 Reference .................................................................................................... 31 3 Locating Qanat .........................................................................................