Regulation of the Caspian Sea

Soviet plans have been completed for the construction of a dam 427 km long across the Caspian Sea, in a further attempt to solve the adverse hydrologic conditions of its basin and to halt the continued fall of its water level. The hydrologic deficiency of the Caspian basin, represented to a major extent by the drainage of the Volga River, is inherent in the regional geophysical conditions of the U.S.S.R. territory west of the Ural Mountains. The proposed dam will raise the level of the Caspian Sea north of 45○N lat to the level prevailing in 1926, creating a hydraulic head of 3.16 m above the rest of the sea estimated for 1970. Two navigation canals cross the dam with locks.