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The Qattara Depression Project, or shortly the Qattara Project, is a concept for a large civil engineering project in Egypt, rivaling the Aswan High Dam, intended to develop the Qattara Depression by flooding it. The depression is a region that lies below sea level and is currently a vast desert. By connecting the region and the Mediterranean Sea with tunnels and/or canals, water could be let into the area. The inflowing water would then evaporate quickly because of the desert climate. This way a continuous flow of water could be created if inflow and evaporation were balanced out. With this continuously flowing water hydroelectricity could be generated. Eventually this would result in a hypersaline lake or a salt pan as the water evaporates and leaves the salt it contains behind. The proposals call for a large canal or tunnel being excavated of about depending on the route chosen to the Mediterranean Sea to bring seawater into the area.〔Ragheb, M. 2010. (''Pumped Storage Qattara Depression Solar Hydroelectric Power Generation.pdf'' ). Published on 28 October 2010.〕 Or otherwise a 320 kilometre (200 mile) pipeline north-east to the freshwater Nile River at Rosetta.〔Mahmoud, Mohamed. (''The River Nile - Qattara Depression Pipeline'' ), June 2009〕〔User:TGCP (''Great Circle Mapper - Rosetta to Qattara'' ), 2011〕 For comparison, the nearby Suez Canal is currently 193 kilometres in length.〔http://www.suezcanal.gov.eg/sc.aspx?show=12〕 By balancing the inflow and evaporation the lake level can be held constant. Several proposed lake levels are -70, -60, -50 and -20 m. Plans to use the Qattara Depression for the generation of electricity date back to 1912 from Berlin geographer Professor Penck.〔Murakami M. (''Managing water for peace in the Middle East'' ) United Nations University Press. p.64-66〕 In 1957 the American Central Intelligence Agency proposed to President Dwight Eisenhower that peace in the Middle East could be achieved by flooding the Qattara Depression. The resulting lagoon, according to the CIA, would have four benefits:〔MI: Gale. 2009. Farmington Hills, ''CIA Suggestions, Document Number CK3100127026''. Reproduced in "Declassified Documents Reference System"〕 * It would be "spectacular and peaceful." *It would "materially alter the climate in adjacent areas." *It would "provide work during construction and living areas after completion for the Palestinian Arabs." *It would get Egyptian president Gamel Abdel Nasser's "mind on other matters" because "he need() some way to get off the Soviet Hook." == Ball period == The subject was discussed in more detail by Dr. John Ball in 1927.〔Ball, John. 1927. ''"Problems of the Libyan Desert: Geographical Journal"''〕 Dr. Ball also made the first preliminary calculations on filling rate, electricity production and salinity. "Non-Egyptians seemed to be unaware of Qattara's existence until after the First World War. The credit for its "discovery" goes to Dr. John Ball (1872-1941), English director of the Survey of Egypt, who oversaw the mapping of the depression in 1927 and who first suggested utilizing it to generate hydroelectricity."〔Koger, Grove. 1999. "The Great Sahara Sea: An Idea Whose Time Has Come." Mercator's World. Volume 4 (2). March/April 1999. Page 23.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Qattara Depression Project」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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