List of largest dams

The following table lists the largest man-made dams by volume of fill/structure. A dam is generally defined as a barrier that impounds water or underground flows, so tailings dams are relegated to a separate list. Data on volume of structure is not as readily available or reliable as data on dam height and reservoir volume.

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

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	Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam [2]	Ethiopia	2023	130 (est.)	155	74	5,150 (full)	CFRD
3	Fort Peck Dam [3]	United States	1940	96	76.4	23	185	TE
4	Atatürk Dam [4]	Turkey	1990	84.5	166	48.7	2,400	TE/ER
5	Houtribdijk	Netherlands	1968	78 [5]	13	2 [6]	0	TE/ER
6	Oahe Dam [3]	United States	1963	70.3	75	29	786	TE/ER
7	Mangla Dam	Pakistan	1967	65.4	147	9.12	1,000	TE/ER
8	Gardiner Dam [7]	Canada	1967	65.4	64	9.4	186	TE
9	Oroville Dam	United States	1968	59.6	230	4.36	819	TE/ER
10	San Luis Dam (BF Sisk Dam)	United States	1967	59.6	93	2.52	424	TE
11	Nurek Dam	Tajikistan	1980	54	300	10.5	3,200	TE
12	Samara Dam	Russia	1955	54 [5]	52	57.3	2,315	TE/ER
13	Garrison Dam [3]	United States	1954	50.8	64	29	583.3	TE
14	Cochiti Dam	United States	1975	50.2	76.5	0.73	NA	TE
15	Aswan Dam [8]	Egypt	1970	44.3	111	169	2,100	TE/ER
16	W. A. C. Bennett Dam	Canada	1968	43.7	186	7.4	2,876	TE
17	San Roque Dam	Philippines	2003	40 [9]	200	0.835	345	CFRD
18	Fort Randall Dam [3]	United States	1953	38.2	50.3	6.7	320	TE/ER
19	Afsluitdijk	Netherlands	1932	36.5 [5]	13	5.5	0	TE/ER
20	Guri Dam	Venezuela	1978	29.8	162	135	10,235	PG/ER
21	Three Gorges Dam	China	2008	27.4 [10]	181	39.3	22,500	PG
22	Indira Sagar Dam	India	2005	12.2	92	9.75	1,000	PG
23	Kariba Dam	Zimbabwe   Zambia	1960	1	128	180	2,000	PG

List of largest tailings dams

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

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 [11]	Canada	1995	540 [5] /720	88	0.35	NA	TE
2	Syncrude Tailings Dam#South West Sand Storage (SWSS) [12]	Canada	2010	119 [5]	40–50	0.25 [5]	NA	TE
3	ASARCO Mission Mine Tailings Dam	United States	1972	40.1	30 [13]	0 [14]	NA	ER

See also

• List of reservoirs by volume
• List of tallest dams
• List of conventional hydroelectric power stations
• List of largest hydroelectric power stations
• List of megaprojects § Dam and hydroelectric projects

References

1. "Tarbela Dam Project" (PDF). WAPDA. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-07-25. Retrieved 2015-07-25.
2. "Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) – Key Facts". Ethiopian Reporter. Retrieved 2024-01-30.
3. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2012-02-07. Retrieved 2022-05-25.
4. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-08-18. Retrieved 2010-09-21.
5. Estimate based on height, dimensions from Google Earth and, where available, cross section. Accuracy ±15%
6. 700 km² × 3 m
7. "South Saskatchewan River Project|Fact Sheet" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-07-06. Retrieved 2010-12-16.
8. "Embankment dams | Structurae". En.structurae.de. Retrieved 2011-02-16.
9. "San Roque Dam". NAPOCOR. Archived from the original on 2015-08-24. Retrieved 2015-07-25.
10. Wieland, Martin; Ren, Qingwen; Tan, John S. Y. (14 May 2014). New Developments in Dam Engineering. CRC Press. ISBN   9780203020678 . Retrieved 2015-07-25.
11. D. Nicol (1994) "The Syncrude Mildred Lake Tailings Dyke Redesign", 18th Int. Congr. Large Dams.
12. "Microsoft Word - Baseline Report on Fluid Deposits revE" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-07-06. Retrieved 2011-02-16.
13. Estimate based on structure volume and dimensions from Google Earth
14. Zero reservoir size because full of tailings