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The influence of geology on the location, design and construction of water supply dams in the Canberra area

Created 17/10/2025

Updated 17/10/2025

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The design and construction of safe and economic dams depends upon many factors, not least of which is an accurate assessment of the geology of the dam site and reservoir area. During the past 80 years, geological factors have caused the failure of, or serious damage to, at least 150 large dams throughout the world. Since 1945, ten possible sites for large water supply dams in the Canberra area have been geologically investigated; of these, three sites were selected for the design and construction of dams. In each case, the site selected, the type of dam constructed, and the layout of the engineering structures were decided upon only after detailed geological investigations. Geological mapping was carried out continuously during the construction of all three dams, and variations from the expected conditions were encountered at each site. Examples are given of problems caused by geological factors which arose at each site, together with the measures adopted to overcome the difficulties. Despite these problems, each of the dams was constructed at a cost very close to the original contract price, and no significant stability problems have occurred during their operation. The thorough geological investigations carried out at these sites have contributed significantly to the economic and safe construction of the three dams.

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Additional Info

Field Value
Title The influence of geology on the location, design and construction of water supply dams in the Canberra area
Language eng
Licence Not Specified
Landing Page https://data.gov.au/data/dataset/90228179-340e-457f-8b5a-fc602f7d568a
Contact Point
Geoscience Australia Data
clientservices@ga.gov.au
Reference Period 20/04/2018
Geospatial Coverage
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors
{
  "coordinates": [
    [
      [
        148.75,
        -36.0
      ],
      [
        149.5,
        -36.0
      ],
      [
        149.5,
        -35.0
      ],
      [
        148.75,
        -35.0
      ],
      [
        148.75,
        -36.0
      ]
    ]
  ],
  "type": "Polygon"
}
Data Portal Geoscience Australia

Data Source

This dataset was originally found on Geoscience Australia "The influence of geology on the location, design and construction of water supply dams in the Canberra area". Please visit the source to access the original metadata of the dataset:
https://ecat.ga.gov.au/geonetwork/srv/eng/csw/dataset/the-influence-of-geology-on-the-location-design-and-construction-of-water-supply-dams-in-the-ca