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Note: whenever I get a decimal as a final answer I’m just gonna round down to make it easier for me and to err on the side of caution.
The shaded area is nearly the size of Vermont, closer if you add the area of Lake Champlain. Vermont is 9615 square miles. Now let’s figure elevations
While Lake Ontario is 243 feet above sea level. Lake Champlain is only 100, so that’s how far down we have to dredge to. It’s not gonna make a lake like they want without massive retaining walls to the north, but that isn’t my problem.
According to google, the average elevation of the Adirondack Mountains is 1217 feet. However, this region also includes the st Lawrence floodplain, so I’m gonna cut that down to only a third, so let’s call that an even 400 feet.
400 feet, minus the 100 of lake Champlain is, of course, 300.
300 feet times 9615 square miles gives me 546 cubic miles.
But wait! How deep is lake Champlain? Lake Champlain is 400 feet deep, but an average depth of 64.
Using the average depth that gives us a new total of 622 cubic miles
Unless my elevation estimates are still insanely high, I’ll call that “hundreds of cubic miles”
Actually, let’s calculate a little more. The difference between the elevation of Lake Ontario and the bottom of Lake Champlain, a removal of 207 feet. That’s still 376 cubic miles!
How about assuming a perfect downhill gradient between the two lakes! The average elevation of 243 and 100 is 171.5, call it 171 for funsies. That gives us a drop of 135 feet from the average elevation to the average lake bed. Still 245 cubic miles removed.
I think that covers the bases.
Edit: also of note, while you could definitely increase the peaks a few thousand feet, this area actually covers the High Peaks anyway, so you’d be starting from scratch with the smaller ones. Also, the lack of the mountains actually turns off a huge amount of the Lake Effect snow they are relying on. The reason the snow is so bad in the shaded area is because the air being forced up and over the mountains is more likely to precipitate. Remove the mountains and you remove the snow. That’s why Watertown, on the Tug Hill Plateau, the foothills of the Adirondacks directly between them and Lake Ontario, is basically the snowiest place in the state. And I’m from Buffalo, so my word on that means something.
Now calculate the massive mudslides and seismic instability as we shift hundreds of cubic miles of soil, sand and rock onto a new location hundreds of miles away.
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Note: whenever I get a decimal as a final answer I’m just gonna round down to make it easier for me and to err on the side of caution.
The shaded area is nearly the size of Vermont, closer if you add the area of Lake Champlain. Vermont is 9615 square miles. Now let’s figure elevations
While Lake Ontario is 243 feet above sea level. Lake Champlain is only 100, so that’s how far down we have to dredge to. It’s not gonna make a lake like they want without massive retaining walls to the north, but that isn’t my problem.
According to google, the average elevation of the Adirondack Mountains is 1217 feet. However, this region also includes the st Lawrence floodplain, so I’m gonna cut that down to only a third, so let’s call that an even 400 feet.
400 feet, minus the 100 of lake Champlain is, of course, 300.
300 feet times 9615 square miles gives me 546 cubic miles.
But wait! How deep is lake Champlain? Lake Champlain is 400 feet deep, but an average depth of 64.
Using the average depth that gives us a new total of 622 cubic miles
Unless my elevation estimates are still insanely high, I’ll call that “hundreds of cubic miles”
Actually, let’s calculate a little more. The difference between the elevation of Lake Ontario and the bottom of Lake Champlain, a removal of 207 feet. That’s still 376 cubic miles!
How about assuming a perfect downhill gradient between the two lakes! The average elevation of 243 and 100 is 171.5, call it 171 for funsies. That gives us a drop of 135 feet from the average elevation to the average lake bed. Still 245 cubic miles removed.
I think that covers the bases.
Edit: also of note, while you could definitely increase the peaks a few thousand feet, this area actually covers the High Peaks anyway, so you’d be starting from scratch with the smaller ones. Also, the lack of the mountains actually turns off a huge amount of the Lake Effect snow they are relying on. The reason the snow is so bad in the shaded area is because the air being forced up and over the mountains is more likely to precipitate. Remove the mountains and you remove the snow. That’s why Watertown, on the Tug Hill Plateau, the foothills of the Adirondacks directly between them and Lake Ontario, is basically the snowiest place in the state. And I’m from Buffalo, so my word on that means something.
Now calculate the massive mudslides and seismic instability as we shift hundreds of cubic miles of soil, sand and rock onto a new location hundreds of miles away.
Seismic instability, as in earth quakee?
Earthquakes if you are LUCKY. The 10 story mudslides will probably kill you way before.
Lol
Lots
“Nous allons construire un mur de soutènement au nord, et c’est le Canada qui va le financer !”