The Cocorobó Dam ( Portuguese : Açude Cocorobó ) is a dam in the state of Bahia , Brazil. It provides a reservoir of water for irrigation and drinking in the arid caatinga environment of the Raso da Catarina . The reservoir covers the ruins of the city of Canudos , scene of the War of Canudos in 1896–97.
15-453: The Cocorobó Dam is in the Raso da Catarina region of the driest part of Bahia. The dam is about 410 kilometres (250 mi) from the state capital, Salvador , near the junction of highways BR-116 and BR-225 . It is in the municipality of Canudos . The Vaza Barria project, which built the dam, was to irrigate 460 hectares (1,100 acres), control floods, support fish farming and supply water to
30-466: A confrontation between peasants and republican troops. Between 1896 and 1897 about 30,000 people died in the slaughter. Many of the relics of that time are now submerged by the Cocorobó Dam . Later the outlaw " Lampião " (Virgulino Ferreira), also known as the "King of Cangaço ", found shelter in the region. The region is considered a priority areas for conservation, sustainable use and sharing of
45-401: A fall and a dissipating basin at an altitude of 332.5 metres (1,091 ft). It is covered in reinforced concrete, and designed to handle 1,824 cubic metres per second (64,400 cu ft/s). The water intake structure has a tower and twin tubes with 1 metre (3 ft 3 in) diameter. The water intake has twin 1 metre (3 ft 3 in) diameter tubes coated in reinforced concrete. It
60-475: A fan-shaped earth dam with a sand-clay core, with the slope protected by riprap . The stony aggregate material and artificial sand were derived from quartzite on the right bank of the river beside the dam. The dam has a maximum height of 33.5 metres (110 ft), with a length of 643 metres (2,110 ft). The base of the dam is 90 metres (300 ft) wide. The crest is 7 metres (23 ft) wide at an altitude of 362 metres (1,188 ft). The spillway ends in
75-490: A transition zone between the arid and semi-arid regions. Temperatures range from 15 to 43 °C (59 to 109 °F). The Raso da Catarina is one of eight ecoregions of the caatinga domain in the Tucano-Jatobá sedimentary basin. It is in the east-central portion of the area, characterized by a markedly seasonal climate that has severe for drought ten to eleven months of the year. The Köppen climate classification
90-523: Is an ecoregion in the caatinga biome of Bahia and Pernambuco , Brazil. It is a sandstone plateau, much eroded, that is extremely dry for most of the year. Vegetation includes low bushes, often thorny, cacti and bromeliads . The core of the Raso da Caterina roughly corresponds to a rectangle bounded by the São Francisco River to the north, BR-110 to the east, Vaza-Barris River to
105-463: Is dimensioned for flow of 4.6 cubic metres per second (160 cu ft/s). It is controlled by two flat sluices upstream and manual control valves downstream. Construction began in 1951, directly managed by DNOCS. Between 1951 and 1966 600,000 cubic metres (21,000,000 cu ft) of landfill was excavated, or 48% of the total. In 1967 the dam reached its full volume, with 650 cubic metres (23,000 cu ft) of compacted landfill. Soon after
120-440: Is mostly Bsh, with very irregular rainfall, high temperatures and strong evaporation. The vegetation is caatinga , including highly-branched bushes, often thorny, 2 to 3 metres (6 ft 7 in to 9 ft 10 in) high, cacti and bromeliads. Full-size trees are rare. The vegetation is denser and less spiny than caatinga on crystalline soils. The War of Canudos , led by the religious preacher Antônio Conselheiro , caused
135-457: The Cretaceous . The landscape has many canyons and rocks carved by erosion into huge obelisks. In a broader sense the Raso da Catarina Ecoregion comprises portions of the states of Pernambuco and Bahia in a long and narrow north-south strip in the central-eastern part of the biome. It covers 30,800 square kilometres (11,900 sq mi) defined by the natural geomorphological limits of
150-471: The Tucano-Jatoba sedimentary basin. It has deep soils, excessively drained, acidic and very low fertility. In Bahia it includes parts of the municipalities of Canudos, Cícero Dantas , Chorrochó , Euclides da Cunha , Glória , Jeremoabo, Macururé, Paulo Afonso, Ribeira do Pombal , Rodelas , Santa Brígida and Uauá . The region is located in the driest part of the state of Bahia , classified as
165-504: The dam was completed in December 1967 part of the embankment slipped, with about 45,000 cubic metres (1,600,000 cu ft) moving about 100 metres (330 ft). This was repaired, and instruments installed to monitor the embankment, Some cracks appeared, and piezometric pressures were considered high. However, after further observations and analysis the dam was considered acceptable. Raso da Catarina The Raso da Catarina
SECTION 10
#1732773126929180-508: The dam, preserves key sites of the war. The stated purpose of the park is to make it impossible to forget the martyrs led by Antônio Conselheiro . The dam impounds the Vaza-Barris River . The river's watershed above the dam drains an area of 3,600 square kilometres (1,400 sq mi). Average annual rainfall is 477 millimetres (18.8 in), with annual runoff of 97 x 106 cubic metres (3,700 cu ft). The river bed in
195-401: The reservoir is covered by sandy alluvial deposits with pockets of silt. The shale sub-strata are massive, only moderately fractured and have low permeability. The reservoir covers an area of 2,395 hectares (5,920 acres) with a volume of 245,375,950 cubic metres (8.665370 × 10 cu ft). In September 2014 the reservoir was holding only 20% of capacity after a prolonged drought. The dam is
210-469: The south and BR-116 to the west. It contains the communities of Cocorobó in the southwest and Paulo Afonso in the northeast, and holds the Serra Branca in the south. It has an area of about 5,000 square kilometres (1,900 sq mi), and covers parts of the municipalities of Paulo Afonso, Jeremoabo , Canudos and Macururé . The core Raso da Caterina is a sandstone plateau that dates back to
225-594: The town of Nova Canudos. The dam is owned by the Departamento Nacional de Obras Contras as Secas (DNOCS). The reservoir submerged the ruined city of Canudos , location of the War of Canudos (1896–97). This was apparently a deliberate effort to erase memories of the suppression of a popular revolt by the republican army in 1896–97. However, the Canudos State Park , created in 1986 to the south of
#928071