Saw a post about the canal, and this question popped up.
In: 9
We could in that it’s theoretically possible. But it would be much more work. Right now, the high point of the canal is about 26m above sea level now, which was lowered from 64m in the “famed” Gaillard cut.
Now, in order to make a safe canal, you can’t just blast a narrow channel, you basically need to make a fake valley with fairly gently sloping sides. The point is, it’s a lot of earth and rock to be moved. Making the entire canal at sea level would require really just immense amounts of explosives and earthmoving. It’s definitely physically feasible, even when the canal was built: you just need a lot of dynamite and a lot of manpower.
Incidentally, creating a wide, sea-level canal in Panama (or Nicaragua) was one of the plans proposed as part of Project Plowshare, a US initiative to find peaceful uses for nuclear bombs.
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