The following table lists the largest man-made dams by volume of fill/structure. By general definition, a dam is a barrier that impounds water or underground streams, hence tailings dams are relegated to a separate list. Data on volume of structure is not as easily available or reliable as data on dam height and reservoir volume.

Type: TE - Earth; ER - Rock-fill; PG - Concrete gravity; CFRD - Concrete face rock fill; AG - Arch-gravity.

Rank Name Country Year completed Structure volume [106 m3] Structure height [m] Reservoir volume [109 m3] Installed capacity [MW] Type
1 Tarbela Dam[1]  Pakistan 1976 153 143 13.7 4,888 TE/ER
2 Fort Peck Dam[2]  United States 1940 96 76.4 23 185 TE
3 Atatürk Dam[3]  Turkey 1990 84.5 166 48.7 2,400 TE/ER
4 Houtribdijk  Netherlands 1968 78[4] 13 2[5] 0 TE/ER
5 Oahe Dam[2]  United States 1963 70.3 75 29 786 TE/ER
6 Mangla Dam  Pakistan 1967 65.4 147 7.25 1,000 TE or TE/ER
7 Gardiner Dam[6]  Canada 1967 65.4 64 9.4 186 TE
8 Oroville Dam  United States 1968 59.6 230 4.36 819 TE/ER
9 San Luis Dam (BF Sisk Dam)  United States 1967 59.6 93 2.52 424 TE
10 Nurek Dam  Tajikistan 1980 54 300 10.5 3,200 TE
11 Samara Dam  Russia 1955 54[4] 52 57.3 2,315 TE or ER
12 Garrison Dam[2]  United States 1954 50.8 64 29 583.3 TE
13 Cochiti Dam  United States 1975 50.2 76.5 0.73 NA TE
14 Aswan Dam[7]  Egypt 1970 44.3 111 169 2,100 TE/ER
15 W. A. C. Bennett Dam  Canada 1968 43.7 186 7.4 2,876 TE
16 San Roque Dam  Philippines 2003 40[8] 200 0.835 345 TE or ER
17 Fort Randall Dam[2]  United States 1953 38.2 50.3 6.7 320 TE/ER
18 Afsluitdijk  Netherlands 1932 36.5[4] 13 5.5 0 TE/ER
19 Kölnbrein Dam  Austria 1979 35.2 200 0.2 1,028.5 TE
21 Guri Dam  Venezuela 1978 29.8 162 135 10,235 PG/ER
22 Three Gorges Dam  China 2008 27.4[9] 181 39.3 22,500 PG
23 Indira Sagar Dam  India 2005 12.2 92 9.75 1,000 PG

List of largest tailings dams

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Type: TE - Earth; ER - Rock-fill; PG - Concrete gravity; CFRD - Concrete face rock fill.

Rank Name Country Year completed Structure volume [106 m3] Structure height [m] Reservoir volume [109 m3] Installed capacity [MW] Type
1 Syncrude Tailings Dam Mildred MLSB[10]   Canada 1995 540[4]/720 88 0.35 NA TE
2 Syncrude Tailings Dam#South West Sand Storage (SWSS)[11]   Canada 2010 119[4] 40-50 0.25[4] NA TE
3 ASARCO Mission Mine Tailings Dam   United States 1972 40.1 30[12] 0[13] NA ER

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Tarbela Dam Project" (PDF). WAPDA. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-07-25. Retrieved 2015-07-25.
  2. ^ a b c d "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-02-07. Retrieved 2022-05-25.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  3. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-08-18. Retrieved 2010-09-21.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  4. ^ a b c d e f Estimate based on height, dimensions from Google Earth and, where available, cross section. Accuracy ±15%
  5. ^ 700 km2 × 3 m
  6. ^ "South Saskatchewan River Project|Fact Sheet" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-07-06. Retrieved 2010-12-16.
  7. ^ "Embankment dams | Structurae". En.structurae.de. Retrieved 2011-02-16.
  8. ^ "San Roque Dam". NAPOCOR. Archived from the original on 2015-08-24. Retrieved 2015-07-25.
  9. ^ Wieland, Martin; Ren, Qingwen; Tan, John S. Y. (14 May 2014). New Developments in Dam Engineering. CRC Press. ISBN 9780203020678. Retrieved 2015-07-25.
  10. ^ D. Nicol (1994) "The Syncrude Mildred Lake Tailings Dyke Redesign", 18th Int. Congr. Large Dams.
  11. ^ "Microsoft Word - Baseline Report on Fluid Deposits revE" (PDF). Retrieved 2011-02-16.
  12. ^ Estimate based on structure volume and dimensions from Google Earth
  13. ^ Zero reservoir size because full of tailings