5 ms·

Are there any other such examples of building over major fault zones historically because of the ready availability of fractured rocks?

redis_mlc 5y ago
Maybe we can dump several thousand tons of nuclear waste into a fault: "In June 2012 S. David Freeman, the former head of the Southern California Public Power Authority and "a longtime anti-nuclear voice",[30] described San Onofre and Diablo Canyon as "disasters waiting to happen: aging, unreliable reactors sitting near earthquake fault zones on the fragile Pacific Coast, with millions of Californians living nearby". The San Onofre plant used seawater for cooling, like some other seaside facilities in Southern California, lacking the large cooling towers typically associated with nuclear generating stations. Limited available land next to SONGS would likely have required towers to be built on the opposite side of Interstate 5.[32] More than 4,000 tons of radioactive waste are stored at San Onofre." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Onofre_Nuclear_Generating_Station https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Onofre_Nuclear_Generating_...
furins 5y ago
Probably in many places along the Alpine Himalayan mountain range, including Algerie, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, India, among others. These mountainous areas are usually heavily fractured by faults and the resulting rock blocks have been used for millennia to build walls. It's rather hard to say if rock availability is the only reason that drove people to build in a given place: usually major faults zones are eroded by rivers and form valleys. this places are preferable building sites because of water availability, easiness of transportation along the river, etc. (sorry for my English)
lostlogin 5y ago
In case you missed it, the article says the below: Further evidence that the site selection for Machu Picchu may not have been an accident: Similar analyses reveal other ancient Incan sites, including Ollantaytambo, Pisac, and Cusco were also built at the intersections of fault zones.
- bregma 5y ago
  I've been to all those places. They're in the same valley, so it's no surprise they're all built on the (same) intersection of fault zones and use similar architecture.

redis_mlc 5y ago

Maybe we can dump several thousand tons of nuclear waste into a fault: "In June 2012 S. David Freeman, the former head of the Southern California Public Power Authority and "a longtime anti-nuclear voice",[30] described San Onofre and Diablo Canyon as "disasters waiting to happen: aging, unreliable reactors sitting near earthquake fault zones on the fragile Pacific Coast, with millions of Californians living nearby". The San Onofre plant used seawater for cooling, like some other seaside facilities in Southern California, lacking the large cooling towers typically associated with nuclear generating stations. Limited available land next to SONGS would likely have required towers to be built on the opposite side of Interstate 5.[32] More than 4,000 tons of radioactive waste are stored at San Onofre." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Onofre_Nuclear_Generating_Station https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Onofre_Nuclear_Generating_...

furins 5y ago

Probably in many places along the Alpine Himalayan mountain range, including Algerie, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, India, among others. These mountainous areas are usually heavily fractured by faults and the resulting rock blocks have been used for millennia to build walls. It's rather hard to say if rock availability is the only reason that drove people to build in a given place: usually major faults zones are eroded by rivers and form valleys. this places are preferable building sites because of water availability, easiness of transportation along the river, etc. (sorry for my English)

lostlogin 5y ago

In case you missed it, the article says the below: Further evidence that the site selection for Machu Picchu may not have been an accident: Similar analyses reveal other ancient Incan sites, including Ollantaytambo, Pisac, and Cusco were also built at the intersections of fault zones.

bregma 5y ago
I've been to all those places. They're in the same valley, so it's no surprise they're all built on the (same) intersection of fault zones and use similar architecture.