Wouldn’t that require so much sand/soil just to fill up the bottom part of the body of water? And the amount of sand/soil is so much that the land where you got the sand/soil from has changed significantly
In: 1
It depends how deep the water is. Nobody is planning to build artificial islands in the Mariana Trench. There are shallower areas where it is more feasible.
Yes, the amount of material would significantly change the area where you take it from. There are plenty of pictures of giant mines and quarries across the world… humans do drastically change the landscape when we want to dig up a lot of material. The material might also be taken from the ocean floor where the damage is real but isn’t as visible or well-understood, compared to a giant pit where a hill used to be.
The reason this makes sense (from somebody’s point of view, at least) is the area where the mine/quarry is was not being used or was not highly valuable while the artificial island will serve a purpose and be valuable.
Others will disagree that this is a good use of resources of course.
It does require a lot of sand and soil, but we have equipment that can move a lot of sand and soil.
First, making an artificial island of any significant size is only possible in shallow waters. And shallow means in the tens of meters typically. Very often, the process starts with building some kind of barrier that will hold the soil and sand more or less in place during filling. This barrier might be something like piles driven into the sea floor (like a ring). Then barges filled with sand and soil start to fill up that ring.
Sometimes, that material can be dredged from somewhere nearby or sometimes it is carried from some land nearby. It will of course change the landscape but it very likely not to be very noticeable since we don’t tend to realize how MUCH land we really have (unless we live on a small island)
This is happening in the south China sea.
Of course you would ant to try this in an area where the “ocean” is noticeably shallow. The deeper the water, the more expensive the island.
If China secures their claim on these man-made sand islands, then…they can claim the oil and gas drilling rights for 12 miles in every direction (24 mile diameter).
When say “island”, you wouldn’t want to build a tall building on it.
In fact, if I was in charge of these islands, the “buildings” would be light, one story tall, and built onto barges so they would float if the island sinks a few feet in a big storm.
Latest Answers