High Resolution JPEG Picture of The Keban Dam (Turkish: Keban Barajı) is a hydroelectric dam on the Euphrates, located in the Elazığ Province of Turkey. The dam was the first and most upstream of several large-scale dams to be built on the Euphrates by Turkey. Although the Keban Dam was not originally constructed as a part of the Southeastern Anatolia Project (GAP), it is now a fully integrated component of the project, which aims to stimulate economic development in Southeastern Turkey. Construction of the dam commenced in 1966 and was completed in 1974. Keban Dam Lake (Turkish: Keban Baraj Gölü), the reservoir created by Keban Dam, has a surface area of 675 km2 and is reputedly the fourth-largest lake in Turkey after Lake Van, Lake Tuz, and the reservoir created by the Atatürk Dam.The Keban Dam is a combined rockfill and concrete gravity hydroelectric dam operated by the State Hydraulic Works (DSİ). The dam is 1097 m long and its crest is 207 m above the level of the river-bed (848 m above sea-level). Its eight water turbines are capable of producing 1,330 MW. The storage capacity of Lake Keban is 30.6 km3 and the surface area of the lake is 675 km2, although the lake has reportedly reached higher levels in the past.Due to Lake Keban's relatively high elevation at 845 m above sea-level and its location in an area with high precipitation, evaporation is relatively low at 0.48 km3/year compared to reservoirs in Syria or Iraq. Apart from the Euphrates Valley directly upstream of the dam, the lake has also flooded parts of valleys of the Murat River and the Karasu, the two rivers from which the Euphrates emerges. Although the dam was not originally intended for irrigation, 63,872 ha of agricultural land was irrigated from Lake Keban in 1999. [182793035] stock photo
