United States or Guadeloupe ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
River embankments, which, as is familiarly known, have from the earliest antiquity been employed in many countries where sea-dikes are unknown, were probably the first works of this character constructed in the Low Countries, and when two neighboring streams of fresh water had been embanked, the next step in the process would naturally be to connect the river-walls together by a transverse dike or raised causeway, which would serve as a means of communication between different hamlets and at the same time secure the intermediate ground both against the backwater of river-floods and against overflow by the sea.
In this case, as well as when salt water is enclosed by sea-dikes, the water thus separated from the ocean gradually becomes fresh, or at least brackish. The laws of their formation are closely analogous, because the action of the two fluids, by which they are respectively accumulated and built up, is very similar when brought to bear upon loose particles of solid matter.
According to Reventlov, confercae first appear at the bottom in shoal water, then, after the deposit has risen above the surface, Salicornia herbacea. The Salicornia is followed by various sand-plants, and so the ground rises, by Poa distans and Poa maritum, and finally common grasses establish themselves. Sea-dikes of the Netherlands.
Land Artificially won from the Waters Great Works of Material Improvement Draining of Lincolnshire Fens Incursions of the Sea in the Netherlands Origin of Sea-dikes Gain and Loss of Land in the Netherlands Marine Deposits on the Coast of Netherlands Draining of Lake of Haarlem Draining of the Zuiderzee Geographical Effects of Improvements in the Netherlands Ancient Hydraulic Works Draining of Lake Celano by Prince Torlonia Incidental Consequences of draining Lakes Draining of Marshes Agricultural Draining Meteorological Effects of Draining Geographical Effects of Draining Geographical Effects of Aqueducts and Canals Antiquity of Irrigation Irrigation in Palestine, India, and Egypt Irrigation in Europe Meteorological Effects of Irrigation Water withdrawn from Rivers for Irrigation Injurious Effects of Rice-culture Salts Deposited by Water of Irrigation Subterranean Waters Artesian Wells Artificial Springs Economizing Precipitation Inundations in France Basins of Reception Diversion of Rivers Glacier Lakes River Embankments Other Remedies against Inundations Dikes of the Nile Deposits of Tuscan Rivers Improvements in Tuscan Maremma Improvements in Val di Chiana Coast of the Netherlands.
Origin of Sea-dikes. Dugdale, whose enthusiasm for his subject led him to believe that recovering from the sea land subject to be flooded by it, was of divine appointment, because God said: "Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together unto one place and let the dry land appear," unhesitatingly ascribes the reclamation of the Lincolnshire fens to the Romans, though he is able to cite but one authority, a passage in Tacitus's Life of Agricola which certainly has no such meaning, in support of the assertion.
The oldest true sea-dikes described in historical records, however, are those enclosing islands in the estuaries of the great rivers, and it is not impossible that the double character they possess as a security against maritime floods and as a military rampart, led to their adoption upon those islands before similar constructions had been attempted upon the mainland.
"Those trees are willows; and wherever it is possible for them to thrive, they encourage their growth for two reasons: first, because the roots of the trees strengthen the dike; and, secondly, because the willow twigs are wanted in repairing and securing the embankment. The foundations of sea-dikes vary from a hundred and twenty to one hundred and fifty feet in width.
Word Of The Day