Revetment
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Revetments are structures placed on banks or cliffs in such a way as to absorb the energy of incoming water or explosives. They are usually built to preserve the existing uses of the shoreline and to protect the slope, as defense against erosion, bombs or artillery, or to secure an area from stored explosives.
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[edit] Freshwater Revetments
Many revetments are used to line the banks of freshwater rivers, lakes, and man-made reservoirs, especially to prevent damage during periods of floods or heavy seasonal rains (see riprap).
[edit] Fortifications
According to the U.S. National Park Service, and referring mostly to their employment in the American Civil War, a revetment is defined as a "retaining wall constructed to support the interior slope of a parapet. Made of logs, wood planks, fence rails, fascines, gabions, hurdles, sods, or stones, the revetment provided additional protection from enemy fire, and, most importantly, kept the interior slope nearly vertical. Stone revetments commonly survive. A few log revetments have been preserved due to high resin pine or cypress and porous sandy soils. After an entrenchment was abandoned, many log or rail revetments were scavenged for other uses, causing the interior slope to slump more quickly. An interior slope will appear more vertical if the parapet eroded with the revetment still in place."[1]
[edit] External links
[edit] Fortifications
[edit] River and Levee Management
[edit] References
- ^ Military Earthworks Terms. Retrieved on 2007-02-27.