Greetings, dear friends! Today I will tell you about several extremely interesting projects that could change the face of our planet.
Atlantropa
Atlantropa is the name of a new continent or even a new part of the world that unites the United States and Europe. Only in this case, the abbreviation USA stands for the United States of Africa. The idea was first proposed by the German architect Hermann Sörgel in 1929. The essence of the project was to create a hydroelectric dam that would block the Strait of Gibraltar, and another that would block the Dardanelles. The capacity of the Gibraltar hydroelectric power station could be 50-60 GW, which is comparable to the capacity of all nuclear power plants in the United States of America.
During the implementation of the project, the Mediterranean Sea would turn into a reservoir isolated from the World Ocean, as a result of which the sea level should have decreased annually by a meter or more, reaching a minimum value by about our time. The retreating water opened up 600 square kilometers of new land - this corresponds to almost two territories in Germany. Italy would be connected to Sicily by a land isthmus, and that, in turn, would be connected by another dam with Africa. In addition to producing clean energy, it was planned to build roads and railways along the dams. Excess water was planned to be redirected directly to the Sahara, where a new sea was to appear as a result. As a result, the climate would become much milder, and instead of the hottest desert in the world, farms, pastures and hundreds of new settlements could appear.
When the Nazis came to power in Germany, Hermann Sörgel tried to propose the Atlantropa project as an alternative to the "Onslaught to the East". The retreating sea could provide Germany with much-needed living space. Only instead of a war with the peoples of the East, it was necessary to fight the elements. The idea did not meet with understanding from Hitler. Moreover, Sörgel was generally forbidden to publish work on this project. It should be noted that not only Hitler, but also the inhabitants of all coastal countries were not delighted, because they would be deprived of the sea, and therefore their usual way of life. However, for Venice, for example, an exception was made, and in order to preserve the historical appearance of the city, it was planned to bring artificial canals to it.
Dam across the Bering Strait
This is already a post-war project of the USSR - a dam with a length of 74 kilometers from Chukotka to Alaska. It sounds no less fantastic, but this idea was considered more seriously, and various theorists still return to it. This is not surprising, because the creation of such a dam and, accordingly, a bridge between continents makes it possible to implement a project for a global transport network. Only 74 kilometers - and now a person can drive a personal car from some Argentina, say, to South Africa through all of Russia and Europe or Asia and the Middle East. Russia itself takes the place of the main trading hub: goods from all over the world to any remote corner of the planet move through its territory, and this promises constant and huge profits.
In addition, it was primarily about the dam, which means that in addition to the economically super-profitable bridge, we would receive global climate change. The cold current of the Pacific Ocean would no longer pass to the north, and vice versa: the warm Gulf Stream from the Atlantic would penetrate more and more actively. As a result, the average temperature in our Far North in winter would rise to almost zero degrees, and the permafrost would be forced to retreat.
The daring plan was developed by the Stalin Prize laureate Pyotr Borisov. The dam had to have pumps capable of pumping out a huge amount of excess water. According to rough estimates, only the operation of such pumps required 25 million kW of energy. There is nowhere to get such power, which means that a whole network of nuclear power plants is still needed. Accordingly, infrastructure is needed for workers who will serve both the dam itself and the nuclear power plant. It was considered that a couple of cities for 50-70 thousand people on our side would be enough, and approximately the same was required from the Americans. As you know, tango is danced together, and this is the minimum. Perhaps, if not for politics, then the two superpowers would have been able to implement such a project, but as you can see, it was not possible to agree. However, the idea of a bridge or an underwater tunnel is periodically returned, and there is no doubt that one day the continents will nevertheless unite.
The great persian canal
The Great Persian Canal is a man-made trans-Iranian waterway that connects the Caspian Sea and the Persian Gulf, giving Russia the shortest route to the Indian Ocean bypassing Turkey. Perhaps there is too much geography here, so let's simplify a little: a really cool thing that promises good profits and additional points of influence in the foreign policy arena.
For the first time, they thought about this channel back in imperial Russia at the very end of the 19th century, but then there were no sufficient technologies for its implementation. Subsequently, they returned to thinking about the channel several times - most often after another butting with Turkey. The last time a discussion on the project was undertaken in 2016. Again, the matter did not go further than conversations, but at least in the minds of the project is still alive.
There are two variants of the Great Persian Canal: long and very long. The first, Bender Khomeini, is 700 kilometers long; the second goes from the Eastern Caspian to Chabahar in the Gulf of Oman. It looks preferable, but it is also 400 kilometers longer. For comparison, the Suez Canal - the world's most famous man-made waterway - is only 160 kilometers long.
In addition, there is an environmental problem. The water channel, oddly enough, must be filled with water. The Caspian Sea lies above the Indian Ocean, and therefore the water will have to be taken from the sea. As a result, the spillway will increase by 10%, which means that the rivers of the already rather arid Middle East will receive even less water.
Sahara sea
The Sahara Desert is the most unfavorable place for human life (perhaps, with the exception of Antarctica). At the same time, the Sahara occupies a third of the entire African continent and is almost equal in area to the whole of China. A colossal lifeless space that people really don't like. Therefore, starting from the 19th century, in the minds of engineers and simply dreamers, science fiction projects periodically arise to create a sea right in the center of the desert. It sounds incredible, but in reality there is a key to achieving this goal.
There are many projects of varying degrees of sophistication, but most of them converge in one key place - in the El-Juf lowland. This territory of Mauritania and Mali is the most hellish desert, where there is not a single permanent settlement for hundreds of kilometers. The fact is that the depression is located below the level of the Atlantic Ocean - therefore, if you dig a channel and somehow strengthen it, the water itself will fill part of the desert. According to preliminary estimates, the result may be a sea with an area of 150-200 thousand square kilometers, which is 4-5 times the area of the Azov Sea. Maybe not so much in comparison with other, much larger, reservoirs, but about 150-200 thousand times better than it is now.
Recent geographical discoveries indicate that the sea was once there. It was fed from the Atlantic Ocean and connected to the Niger River. There was also enough water for Lake Chad, which is sometimes called Mega-Chad, referring to the size of the prehistoric reservoir. Without exaggeration, at one time it was several hundred times larger and, in fact, was the second inland African sea. Therefore, you just need to help the planet a little and return everything to its place.
