At the beginning of the last century, German engineer Herman Segel proposed the Atlantropa plan , part of which was to build a huge hydropower station near Strait of Gibraltar .
Strait of Gibraltar
If built successfully, the water level line of Mediterranean will be greatly reduced. With the changes in the climate and environment, the Mediterranean may face drying in the future.
If there is no water in the Mediterranean, can we discover treasures from it? Scientists say: Don't try to drain the Mediterranean water.
The idea of draining the Mediterranean
Seger's plan undoubtedly provides an idea. If we want to drain the Mediterranean water, we will build a total of four dams near the Mediterranean.
First, build a super dam in Strait of Gibraltar to block sea water from Atlantic .
Due to the influence of Mediterranean climate , the evaporation in the place will be very large in summer, and the supply in winter will also be greatly reduced. It is a matter of time before drying up.
Characteristics of Mediterranean climate
Second, a dam is built in Dardanelles . The strait is connected to Black Sea , which can further reduce the connection between the Mediterranean and the external water sources.
strait location is shown in the figure
3, and the third dam is built in Suez Canal , completely "isolated" the Mediterranean from the ocean.
Fourth, and a super dam needs to be built between Sicily and Tunisia.
This way, the Mediterranean can be divided into two halves, and accelerates the evolution of the Mediterranean .
At this time, some friends may ask, why not block the river water?
The reason is that their supply cannot keep up with a fraction of the evaporation of the Mediterranean Sea, and the supply of rivers is insignificant.
After everything is done, we will also open an artificial canal in northern Africa .
canals intersperse the entire African region, strengthening economic ties between Europe and Africa.
The water source of the canal is the sea water of the Mediterranean.
Mediterranean coast
If all projects are completed, the water level line in the Mediterranean will drop by about 300 meters to 400 meters.
The average depth of the Mediterranean is now around 1450 meters, so it is not easy to let it dry completely.
Seger estimates that if there is no human intervention in the future, the Mediterranean will have to be at least 500 years before it can dry up naturally.
draining the value of the Mediterranean
draining the Mediterranean project is unprecedented. Its engineering volume is so huge that it is equivalent to the addition of several world-class projects.
Mediterranean Seascape
What is its value when I go through such a lot of trouble?
First of all, there are shipwrecks and ancient treasure .
The Mediterranean is the birthplace of European civilization. Early people lived by the water and left many ancient treasures near the Mediterranean.
After people set foot in the ocean, the Mediterranean was used by countless merchants to transport various materials and goods, and there were countless sunken merchant ships .
Undersea shipwreck
In 2020, British researchers discovered 12 ancient ships in the Mediterranean. After some salvage, they found ancient porcelain, kettles, coins, etc., with countless treasures of various kinds.
If the Mediterranean is drained, the treasure in it will reappear. Through these ancient items, we can uncover a mysterious history.
Secondly, without the barrier of the Mediterranean, Europe and Africa are closer in ties, which is conducive to the deeper commercial exchanges between the two sides.
Finally, the Mediterranean will also become a huge basin, and human living space can be expanded.
can be seen that the Mediterranean was drained, which has many benefits, but scientists objected to this.
Because in the long run, draining the Mediterranean water is definitely the disadvantages of outweigh the advantages of .
Relative gap between the Mediterranean and some regions
Don’t want to drain the Mediterranean, which is not realistic in itself. Although some engineers have proposed the idea, it lacks operability.
Judging from the current human technology level, such a large-scale world-class project cannot be completed.
You should know that the shallowest depth of the Strait of Gibraltar exceeds 300 meters, and the deepest depth is more than 1,000 meters.
The powerful water pressure environment has brought difficulties.
As for building a dam between Sicily and Tunisia , it is more technically difficult.
Ordinary dam structure
The most important thing is that such a huge project will definitely be difficult to obtain without trillion US dollars . Where did the funds for building this project come from?
From an environmental perspective, the Mediterranean Sea has a significant effect on climate and precipitation nearby. Once the water in it dries up, the local area may evolve into a desert climate.
Scientists speculate that the dry Mediterranean Sea is most likely to become a desert basin, and due to the accumulation of large amounts of salt, people cannot produce and live in it.
At that time, the area of Sahara Desert will connect to the Mediterranean desert and erode to Europe, causing terrible disasters to the local people.
In addition, the role of the Mediterranean in water circulation cannot be ignored. Its annual evaporation is enough to be described as a massive amount. These water vapors form precipitation after the atmosphere is cooled, nourishing generations of human beings.
Water cycle in nature
It is precisely because of the existence of the Mediterranean that the local area has such a superior climate environment.
In terms of biological aspects, the Mediterranean has abundant fishery resources and a unique ecosystem has been formed around it.
This circle is centered on the Mediterranean Sea and spreads around, making it an ideal place for living for various wild animals.
The dry Mediterranean forces the loss of fishery resources and the displacement of animals, from the former birds singing and fragrance of flowers to the future dead silence, and ultimately this consequence will be projected on humans.
Not only that, the Mediterranean also has a high tourism and cultural value .
The Mediterranean has a long history and ancient civilizations. Many ancient myths and legends were born near this area of water.
There are many tourist attractions in the Mediterranean, such as Aegean , Izra Island - City of Artists, etc. The entire Mediterranean is called a tourist resort and attracts countless tourists every year.
Aegean Sea beauty
The place's annual income from tourist attractions alone is as high as 12 billion US dollars , and people have no reason to drain it.
It is worth mentioning that the area north of the Mediterranean is an excellent place to plant grapes. There is plenty of sunshine and appropriate precipitation in summer, which is conducive to the accumulation of various substances in the grapes.
Therefore, the winemaking industry here is quite developed and is an important wine exporter in the world.
In general, draining the Mediterranean water is an operation that cannot be achieved by .
Mediterranean coastline
The super project proposed by Seger was just to control African colonies and consolidate the hegemony of European developed countries in the world.
There are countless legends about the Mediterranean, which also adds a layer of mystery veil to it, , including many mysterious stories.
missing incident
records, from 1964 to 1989, six ships mysteriously disappeared.
The most famous of them is a fishing boat called the Maena, which had repeatedly sent distress signals to nearby signal receiving stations before its death.
The fishing boat "Maena" may have sunk
Later, people found the bodies of 16 fishermen in the Mediterranean. They had no wounds on their faces. After testing, they were not thirsty or starved to death.
Because it took only 9 hours for the first group of people to be found to send a distress signal to the discovery of the body, and they were all sailors who were good at swimming, so it was unlikely that would drown .
How did the ship just die? What happened to them in the process? No one knows, and there is no reasonable explanation yet.
Later, submarine mysteriously disappeared in the Mediterranean. After many searches, people did not find any trace, as if the world had evaporated.
Mediterranean seabed rocks
Some people say that there are many sea monsters living in the Mediterranean, lurking in it, specializing in hunting greedy humans. The statement of
is definitely undesirable, but we must also pay attention to one problem: respects the development laws of in nature, so that human civilization can last longer.
