Hoover Dam is a marble arch-gravity structure in the Colorado River's Black Canyon, on the boundary among Nevada and Arizona. During the Great Recession, it was constructed between 1931 and 1936 and inaugurated by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on September 30, 1935. Its construction required a major effort including thousands of employees and caused over a hundred deaths. In laws enacted by Congress throughout its building, it was designated to as Hoover Dam after President Herbert Hoover, but during the Reagan administration, it was renamed Boulder Dam. Congress reinstated the Hoover Dam designation in 1947. Let us understand the specifications, unique aspects and impact of the Hoover dam construction on the environment.  

What is the quantity of concrete in the dam?

The dam has three and a half million standard cubic yards of concrete. The reservoir, power station, and associated works include 4,360,000 cubic yards of concrete. This amount of concrete would be enough to erect a monument 100 feet squared and 2-1/2 miles high; it would be taller than the 1,250-foot-tall Empire State Building if situated on an average city block; or it would cover a regular highway 16 feet in diameter from San Francisco to New York City. The initial concrete for the dam was laid on June 6, 1933 and the last on May 29, 1935. Every month, around 160,000 cubic yards of concrete were put in the reservoir. Peak deployments were 10,462 cubic yards in one day, involving concrete laid in the intake turbines and engine, and somewhat more than 275,000 cubic yards throughout one month.

What was a unique aspect of the Hoover Dam's construction?
The dam was constructed in stacked vertically of blocks ranging in size from around 60 feet square at the dam's upstream side to about 25 feet square at the dam's downstream side. The dam is made up of around 215 blocks. A sequence of vertical hooks on the directional joints and horizontal keys on the circumference joints held adjacent sections connected. The max number of concrete that could be placed in any one block in 72 hours was five feet. After the concrete had set, a cement and water combination known as grout was pushed into the voids left between both the columns by the chilled concrete's compression to form a rigid frame.

What building work was required before operations began at the dam site?
●    Boulder City is being built to accommodate personnel from both the government and the contractor.
●    From Boulder City to the dam site, seven miles of 22-foot-wide asphalt-surfaced roadway was built.
●    22.7 miles of standard-gauge railway from the Union Pacific central route in Las Vegas to Boulder City, with an estimated 10 miles from Boulder City to the dam site.
●    To generate energy for building, a 222-mile-long electrical transmission line from San Bernardino, California, to the dam site was built.

Impact on the environment
The variations in water circulation and use induced by the building and operation of Hoover Dam have had a significant influence on the Colorado River Delta. The dam's building has been blamed for the loss of this estuary habitat. During the six years after the dam's completion, as Lake Mead swelled, almost little water entered the river's entrance. Prior to the completion of the Hoover Dam, the Colorado River underwent natural floods. The barrier prevented natural floods from threatening a variety of species, both flora and animals, that had adapted to floods.

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When was the hoover dam built