23 Replies to “Contest #46”

  1. Maeslantkering – a storm surge barrier in the Nieuwe Waterweg waterway located between the towns of Hoek van Holland and Maassluis, Netherlands.

  2. This is Maeslantkering sea barrier, located in Holland. According to Wikipedia, It is supposedly the largest moving structure on Earth, hmmmm not sure about that.

    Cheers,
    -Skip

  3. Its the “Maeslantkering” a storm surge barrier outside of Rotterdam (apparently).

    This took me a long time. After looking at the image for a few minutes I thought “its got to be one of the dams around the IJsselmeer!” I zoomed in and spent some time flipping around, even going in and around Amsterdam but could not for the life of me find it.

    I did some google searches for “retractable lock” “retractable dam” “movable dam” but came up short each time. It looked pretty green, so it couldn’t be suez. It didn’t look like panama. Finally another search lead me to Venice. It didn’t look quite right but I remember reading about retractable dams to the lagoon venice is in. Spent another long while looking around venice, then gave up for a while.

    Later I decided to revisist the IJsselmeer. Instead of googling and doing wikipedia for general dams/locks, I just read the entry on the IJssel, which lead me to two Works: Zuiderzee and Delta. I noticed that the Delta works had projects all around Rotterdam and Antwerp, not just Amsterdam, so I extended my search southwards and found it in about 5 minutes.

    I feel dumb for not searching more on my first hunch, which was pretty close.

  4. Roterdam, Maeslantkering storm surge barrier in the Nieuwe Waterweg waterway, Netherlands.

  5. This is the “Maeslantkering” (the Maeslant barrier), at the entrance of the port of Rotterdam.

    This structure is part of the “DeltaWorks” (or Delta project), a huge network of 300 dams, levees, barriers, designed to protect the Netherlands from flood.

    The Maeslant barrier is the last structure built within the Deltaworks, and is a storm surge protection device.

    — I didn’t know that one, but I figured quickly it was a “dutch thing” : color of water, green grass, high tech, etc. I flew over a few estuaries of Netherlands with GE (Escaut N, S, Maas, Rhine), and finally found that one in a few minutes.

  6. flood barrier nieuwe waterweg protecting Zeeland and Holland and the caland canal.

  7. This is the Maeslantkering, near the Hoek van Holland (Netherlands). It’s a flood barrier that can be closed if there is a danger of a storm surge, which might affect Rotterdam and other towns along the Rhine.

    I think I remember these gates from a documentary, possibly Discovery Channel, on the threat that storm surges pose to low-lying areas, and I was pretty sure it was near Rotterdam, which it is. In Google Earth, the 3D model shows its closed position.

  8. The Maeslantkering, a storm surge barrier in the Netherlands. Apparently it is also the largest moving structure on earth (thanks wikipedia).

  9. This is a storm surge barrier near the port of Rotterdam in the Netherlands. Fly to Hoek van Holland (“Hook of Holland”) and you’ll see it centered at about 51.57.16N 4.09.50E. A Google Earth Community entry describes it as the Maeslant Barrier.

  10. The Maeslantkering – A storm surge barrier in the Nieuwe Waterweg waterway located between Hoek van Holland and Maassluis, Netherlands. I had never heard of it before, but I figured it was a tidal control barrier of some sort in the coastal Netherlands/France/Germany area. A little searching and there it was! Good one. Thanks!

  11. Maeslant surge barrier, Rotterdam, Netherlands. Saw a TV program on Netherlands sea defences and recognised it. Now if only I had not missed looking at this site when it was the Barcelona cathedral aerial I would be doing really well. Much happier with Northern Hemispere aerials.

  12. Those are the swinging weirs in Rotterdam. They protect the upriver lowlands from surge.

  13. This is “the Maeslantkering, a storm surge barrier in the Nieuwe Waterweg waterway located between the towns of Hoek van Holland and Maassluis, Netherlands”
    I remembered the structure from some TV documentary, I thoghy it was in the Netherlands so I went to see the Dutch coast.
    I couldn’t find it, so I looked for “locks” and “flood gates” in Google and Wikipedia. There I found the reference for Maeslantkering.

  14. as an FYI, me and a bunch of geology bloggers started playing a version of this game (started on my blog here
    in January 2007) … we are now on #141 (here
    ).

    Ours is typically, but not always, showcasing some geologic feature.

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