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[[File:Medeu- 4.jpg|thumb|300px|Looking down from Medeu Dam, toward the [[Medeo|Medeu Skating Rink]] to the north]]
The '''Medeu (Medeo) Mudflow Control Dam''' ({{lang-ru|Противоселевая плотина Медео}}) is a dam across the Medeu Valley south-east of [[Almaty]], Kazakhstan, designed to protect the city from devastating [[debris flows]] (or [[mudflow]]s).

== The mudflow threat ==
[[File:Almaty1921 Sel Malaya Almatinka.jpg|thumb|left|In the aftermath of the 1921 Malaya Almatinka [[debris flow]]. This is the kind of event that the Medeu Dam is designed to prevent]]
Much of downtown [[Almaty]] is built on the [[alluvial fan]] of the [[Malaya Almatinka River]], at the point where the river leaves the steep and narrow Medeu Valley for the wider plain. The river valley, steeply descending to the city from the [[Trans-Ili Alatau]] mountains, is highly susceptible to the formation of [[debris flows]] and/or mudflows. During the 20th century, five catastrophic debris/mudflows happened in the valleys of Malaya Almatinka, or its sister river (further west), the Bolshaya Almatinka. The most severe of them was the catastrophic mudflow of 1921 in the Malaya Almatinka valley, triggered by heavy rainfall. It killed 500 people out of Almaty's 45,000 population at the time, and destroyed much of the city. The total volume of that flow is thought to have been 10 million cubic meters (including some 3 million cubic meters of hard material, i.e. rock), coming down to the city at the discharge rate of 900 cubic meters per second. It is estimated that if a repetition of the 1921 mudflow were to strike the city in the early 21st century, the damage would be on the order of US $100 million.

To prevent mudflows from reaching the city, a number of facilities have been built upstream of the city on both the Bolshaya (Greater) and Malaya (Lesser) Almatinka Rivers.<ref>{{citation
|first=Matthias |last=Jakob|first2= Oldrich |last2=Hungr|publisher=Springer |year=2005|isbn=3-540-20726-0
|title=Debris-flow hazards and related phenomena|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=w4_QA22J4FoC
|pages=38–39}}</ref>

== Dam history ==
[[File:E8491-Medeu-dam-visitors.jpg|thumb|Sightseers climb Medeu Dam to get a good view of the [[Medeo|Medeu Skating Rink]]]]
The Medeu Dam blocks the Medeu Valley (the valley of the Malaya Almatinka River) just south (upstream) of the [[Medeu]] Skating Rink.
It was created on October 21, 1966 by a series of four preliminary explosions of 1,800 tons total and a final explosion of 3600 tons of ammonium nitrate based explosive. On April 14, 1967 the dam was reinforced by an explosion of 3900 tons of [[ammonium nitrate]] based explosive. More filling was done later on, until the dam reached its design profile in 1972.

[[Mikhail Lavrentyev]], the [[Akademgorodok|Siberian]] mathematician known for his work on the theory of "directed explosion", was among the scientific consultants of this construction-by-explosion project.<ref>[http://www-sbras.nsc.ru/HBC/2000/n47/f7.html Science in Siberia], No. 47 (2283), December 2000 {{Ru icon}}</ref>

It turned out that the dam was completed just in time for the potentially catastrophic mudflow of July 15, 1973. The dam worked, successfully stopping the flow. 3.8 million cubic meters of sediment was captured in the reservoir above the dam, bringing its bottom to the elevation of 1835 meters above the sea level.

There is an unfinished dam further up in the valley at {{coord|43.084436|77.078104|display=inline|type:landmark}}. This dam was proved unnecessary due to the success of the Medeu dam and was abandoned due to cost constraints. It is currently the site of a meteorological station. {{citation needed|date=August 2012}}

==Literature==
{{commonscat|Medeu Dam}}
*{{cite|first=Ts.E.|last=Mirtshoulava|contribution=Mud floods in the Caucasus and Central Asia|title=Floods|editor-first=Dennis|editor-last=J Parker |pages=217-218|isbn=0-415-22743-7|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uJz548G5XHEC}} (Full text available on [[Google Books]]).
<references/>

{{coord|43.150566|77.062612|display=t|type:landmark}}

[[Category:Buildings and structures in Almaty]]
[[Category:Dams in Kazakhstan]]
[[Category:Flood control projects]]
[[Category:Buildings and structures built in the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:1966 establishments in the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:Dams completed in 1972]]

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