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Posts Tagged ‘Drowned’

Last Stop: 2,800 Drowned NYC Subway Cars Turned Marine Habitats

04 Dec

[ By WebUrbanist in Destinations & Sights & Travel. ]

dropping reef closeup

Since the early 2000s, decommissioned New York City subway cars have been seeded into the waters around New Jersey, Delaware, Virginia and other eastern states, creating infrastructure for fish habitats along the coastal shelf running from New York to North Carolina. Artificial reefs like these can increase sea life concentrations dramatically in otherwise-flat subsurface regions, boasting up to hundreds of times as much biomass per area of seafloor.

dumping subway cars

dropping reef filling

In late 2000, the Metro Transit Authority began dumping 1200 old cars into the water; in 2007, another 1600 were added to the list. These frameworks of these sunken cars serve as replacement rock outcrops on which corals and plants grow, leading to oysters, mussels and further sea life. Photographer Stephen Mallon has spent years capturing this deliberate subway-dumping activity in action on the surface.

dropping reef then

Meanwhile, sequential underwater images show the subsurface results over time. The progress photos above and below were shot after 5 years and 10 years, respectively, demonstrating just how rapidly and effectively these places can become populated, first sparsely and then densely.

dropping reef now

The critical amount of biomass that develops makes these cars hotspots for diverse populations of underwater creatures all along the food chain, together forming self-sustaining regional ecosystems.

dropping car crane water

In turn, these locations can attract fishermen and divers as well, keen both to see the thriving populations of aquatic life but also to explore the underwater ruins of modern machines. Far as they may be from their original subterranean homes, these train cars still manage to serve citizens of cities along the Atlantic coast in their own unusual ways.

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[ By WebUrbanist in Destinations & Sights & Travel. ]

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Drowned Towns: 10 Underwater Ghost Cities & Buildings

10 Mar

[ By Steph in Global & Travel & Places. ]

Drowned Towns Main

Mildewed crosses, lonely spires, barely-visible stone foundations and rusting bed frames are all that’s left to show for these 10 intentionally submerged towns and structures from India to Massachusetts. When additional water and power is needed to provide for growing populations, small villages often have to be sacrificed, and while some were demolished before their remains were flooded, others can still be seen as ghostly visions wavering beneath the surface.

Potosi, Venezuela

Drowned Towns Potosi 1

Drowned Towns Potosi 2

Another town lost to the creation of a hydroelectric dam, Potosi was abandoned in 1985, its residents relocating and leaving their former homes to be filled with water. For 20 years, all that was visible of the Veneuzuelan town was a single mildewed cross topping a drowned church, but by the year 2010, the waters began to recede and the town slowly reappeared. The gothic church that was once submerged is visible again due to droughts and water shortages, erosion and water damage making it appear much older than it really is.

Steeple Tombstone: Curon Venosta, Italy

Drowned Towns Steeple Tomb 1

Drowned Towns Steeple Tomb 2

A single spire marks the location of an entire town lost beneath Lago di Resia. The alpine village of Curon Venosta was flooded soon after World War II when officials decided to merge three pre-existing lakes into one to create a hydroelectric dam. Before it was inundated, the town – which included 163 houses and nearly 1,300 acres of land planted with fruit – was filled with sand. The bell tower, which was built in the 14th century, was left intact as a memorial, and can be reached on foot in the winter when the lake freezes over.

Vilarinho da Furna, Portugal

Drowned Towns Vilarinho da Furna

In 1972, the creation of a new dam meant the ancient Vilarinho da Furna was lost beneath the water. The Portuguese village, which dates back to Roman times, was home to almost 300 people inhabiting 80 houses before it was submerged; the property still belongs to their descendants, and reappears every now and then when the reservoir levels fall. The community was unique in that it had a communitarian social system with a council called the Junta made up of a single member from each family, a practice dating back to the Visigoths. When the villagers left they took as much as they could, creating their own road to transport things like rocks and roof tiles to their new homes. Some of those rocks were used to build a museum commemorating Vilarinho da Furna, which contains a collection of clothing, agricultural tools, and paintings depicting daily life in the village.

Jal Mahal, Jaipur, India

Drowned Towns Jal Mahal 1

Drowned Towns Jal Mahal 2

The Water Palace of Jaipur, India sits in the center of Man Sagar Lake. No one knows exactly when it was built, but it’s believed that the red sandstone structure is at least 300 years old and was constructed before damming created the lake, submerging its lower four stories. When the lake is full, only the top level can be reached, and only by boa. At night, the place is illuminated with floodlights like some kind of hallucinatory ghost structure. The palace was recently restored and is now open to visitors.

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Drowned Towns 10 Underwater Ghost Cities Buildings

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[ By Steph in Global & Travel & Places. ]

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Drowned Out: 9 Abandoned Lifeguard Huts & Towers

31 Mar

[ By Steve in Abandoned Places & Architecture. ]

abandoned lifeguard towers
Battered by wind, waves and relentless weathering, these 9 abandoned lifeguard towers still stand watch though the watchers have long since left.

Genkai-jima, Japan

abandoned lifeguard tower genkaijima Japan(images via: Another Tokyo)

The island of Genkai-jima in southern Japan’s Hakata Bay has seen a lot of history, not least being two unsuccessful Mongol invasions almost 750 years ago. Situated off the Itoshima Peninsula on the bay’s western side, Genkai-jima offers an ideal lookout platform in general and, wonder of wonders, boasts a man-made lookout platform to boot.

Genkaijima Japan abandoned lifeguard lookout tower(image via: Catching Fish With Fish)

The abandoned lifeguard tower on Genkai-jima is rather luxurious as such constructions go, providing a windowed sheltering space beneath the topmost observation platform accessible via a poured concrete, railed staircase. An appreciable expense must have been expended to run an electrical power line to the hut, enabling the use of a powerful searchlight mounted on the roof. After all that, the tower was abandoned at some point and is inexorably deteriorating. Swim (or invade) at your own risk.

Koshkol, Kyrgyzstan

abandoned lifeguard station Koshkol Kyrgyzstan(image via: Wikipedia/Vmenkov)

Vladimir Menkov picked a picture-perfect day to document the current (well, 2007) state of the lifeguard station at the abandoned Lake Issyk Kul beach resort at Koshkol, Kyrgyzstan. Formerly patronized by vacationing Soviet-era poobahs, the resort and its facilities were caught between the fall of communism and the rise of Islamism.

Cape Town, South Africa

abandoned lifeguard hut Cape Town South Africa Innocent(images via: Sandra Maytham-Baily)

Sandra Maytham-Bailey used a Canon EOS 5D Mark II camera and some very creative processing techniques to bring out the best of this abandoned beachfront lifeguard hut. Cape Town’s beaches are both spectacular and dangerous – if the powerful riptides don’t get you, the local Great White Sharks will. Why’s this “Innocent” lifeguard HQ boarded up and abandoned, then? Perhaps potential lifeguards figured the hazards weren’t worth the pay.

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