In math class, we were given the task to do some research on BC’s own Garibaldi lake in order to find out how you can estimate the volume, how much water the barrier holds and find out what would happen if the barrier faulted.

How to estimate Garibaldi’s volume:

It is important to take into account that the shape is irregular and the depths are not the same throughout the lake:

Using dimensions that I found on Wikipedia I came up with the formula to find an approximate volume:

How much water does the lake hold:

Using the dimensions given I changed the surface area from kilometres to metres in order to multiply the surface area with the depth, and made sure to convert my answers to litres at the end since the lake is liquid:

What if the barrier faulted? How much water would Escape? At, what kind of power?

•The lake was formed from an eruption of the Volcano “Clinker peak.” The barrier was formed by the lava flow, and the bottom of the lake is actually the old valley.

•1981 it was decided that the area surrounding the lake was unsafe for human habitation because of the fact that it is unsteady or unstable, and may break. There are currently rocks falling off the barrier and the reasoning behind this could be because water is escaping from the the bottom which could even be because of lava flow.

•It is geologically proven to break eventually.

•Dr.Quane one of the researches of this lake has said “The potential energy a 1,400 metres elevation, of 1 trillion litres of water, is 200 times the energy released by the bomb on Hiroshima.” Which killed over 100,000 people in japan 1945. Could you imagine the impact it would have if something 200 times that was released in Squamish? The wave height released would be 120 metres high.

•I found this chart  on http://www.csgnetwork.com/waterinformation.html stating at what degree each gram or cubic centimetre would weigh according to its density. Garibaldi Lake is 2 degrees celsius making 1 cubic centimetre of it’s water .999944 grams.

I plugged the measurements of the lake that I found, into the equations where 2 degrees celsius is equal to 0.999944 grams per, cubic centimetre. After converting everything to get 118279375.948 kilograms, I came to the conclusion that this ways approximately the weight of a  Capitol Ship, Freighter Ship according to http://www.bountyheadbebop.com/forum/index.php?topic=24.0 .

•Quane wants to find the weaker points of the damn, and right now if the barrier were to break in the weak points more water should escape then a stronger point just because the force used to break a smaller part would be less allowing for more force to be used when the water is escaping and vice versa if it were to break a stronger point, I feel as though much of the force would be used to break the damn versus flood the area. If the whole thing broke the wave would reach from Cheakamus and Squamish rivers to Howe Sound and possibly all the way to vancouver island.

In conclusion

I found this task incredibly challenging but it feels good to have completed it and to have learned a few math skills such as estimating volumes of lakes, weights of lakes and learning about our very own Garibaldi lake.

References

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garibaldi_Lake

Garibaldi Lake: Everything tourists (and you) need to know before you go

https://www.simetric.co.uk/si_water.htm

http://www.bountyheadbebop.com/forum/index.php?topic=24.0 .