If aggradation continues to occur in the main channel, this will make levee overtopping more likely again, and the levees can continue to build up. In some cases, this can result in the channel bed eventually rising above the surrounding floodplains, penned in only by the levees around it; an example is the Yellow River in China near the sea, where oceangoing ships appear to sail high above the plain on the elevated river. [21] A levee ( / ˈ l ɛ v i/), [1] [2] dike ( American English), dyke ( Commonwealth English), embankment, floodbank, or stop bank is a structure that is usually earthen and that often runs parallel to the course of a river in its floodplain or along low-lying coastlines. [3] a b c Kemp, Katherine. The Mississippi Levee System and the Old River Control StructureThe Louisiana Environment. Tulane.edu Indus River Valley Civilizations". History-world.org. Archived from the original on 10 June 2012 . Retrieved 12 September 2008. {{ cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL ( link) A Look at Preventing Levee Erosion". Federal Emergency Management Agency. 11 February 2021 . Retrieved 28 June 2023.

Displacement by end dumping is also a possibility for low levees that are constructed across sloughs and stream channels whose bottoms consist of very soft fine-grained soils. The depths of these deposits may not be large, yet the cost of removing them may not be justified. In this case, fill can be end-dumped from one side of the slough or channel. The weight of the fill will eventually displace the foundation soils to the sides and front so that the levee can be brought to grade. In this process, the fill should be advanced with a V-shaped leading edge so that the center of the fill is most advanced, displacing the soft material to both sides. The displaced material will generally come visible along the sides of the fill, and should not be removed. One disadvantage of this method is that all of the soft material may not be displaced, which could result in slides. McPhee, John (23 February 1987). "The Control of Nature: Atchafalaya". The New Yorker. Archived from the original on 13 May 2011 . Retrieved 12 May 2011. Republished in McPhee, John (1989). The Control of Nature. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. p.272. ISBN 0-374-12890-1. Gonzales, John Moreno. "Sign of Katrina Fatigue? Storm memorial delayed." Associated Press. July 12, 2008. (Aug. 4, 2008) Levin, Alan and Pete Eisler. "Many decisions led to failed levees." USA Today. Nov. 3, 2005. (Aug. 1, 2008)http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-11-03-levees-failure_x.htm The comparison with the communion rail that separated the sanctuary in a church was not unintentional. The chambre du roi marked the centre of the château de Versailles.Henry Petroski (2006). "Levees and Other Raised Ground". American Scientist. 94 (1): 7–11. doi: 10.1511/2006.57.7. While strolling along the beach or enjoying a picnic by a riverbank, it's easy to forget how powerful Earth's waterways really are -- until floods and storms jar us to remember. In 1927, the Mississippi River swelled under heavy rains, charging through a line of levees and flooding an area the size of Ireland. In 1953, the North Sea broke through the Netherland's ancient system of dikes and killed thousands. In Sophia Coppola's Marie Antoinette, the levée of the French queen during the reigns of Louis XV and XVI is represented. Finally, it is possible to densify loose sands through methods such as vibroflotation. Because these methods are expensive, they are usually not utilized except in important structures in a levee system.

Ancient civilizations in the Indus Valley, ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia and China all built levees. Today, levees can be found around the world, and failures of levees due to erosion or other causes can be major disasters, [7] such as the catastrophic 2005 levee failures in Greater New Orleans that occurred as a result of Hurricane Katrina. By the second half of the sixteenth century, it had become a formal event, requiring invitation. [3] In 1563 Catherine de' Medici wrote in advice to her son, the King of France, to do as his father ( Henry II) had done and uphold the practice of lever. Catherine describes that Henry II allowed his subjects, from nobles to household servants, to come in while he dressed. She states this pleased his subjects and improved their opinion of him. [4] New textiles: The Dutch also developed tough, synthetic textiles to better anchor earthen levees. These prevent soil movement and water penetration. The New Orleans levee system began using this technology following Hurricane Katrina.Levees are common in any river with a high suspended sediment fraction and thus are intimately associated with meandering channels, which also are more likely to occur where a river carries large fractions of suspended sediment. For similar reasons, they are also common in tidal creeks, where tides bring in large amounts of coastal silts and muds. High spring tides will cause flooding, and result in the building up of levees. Artificial levees need to be protected. They have to stand up to erosion, or wearing away, by the nearby water. Sometimes, trees and plants like Bermuda grass ( Cynodon dactylon) are planted near levees to anchor the soil. Engineers need to maintain levees with structural work to reinforce the boundaries. Le Lever, engraving by Louis Romanet (1742–1810), after Sigmund Freudenberg (1745-1801) Grand lever [ edit ] Briaud, J., Chen, H., Govindasamy, A., Storesund, R. (2008). Levee erosion by overtopping in New Orleans during the Katrina Hurricane. Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering. 134 (5): 618–632.

The Mississippi levee system represents one of the largest such systems found anywhere in the world. It comprises over 5,600km (3,500mi) of levees extending some 1,000km (620mi) along the Mississippi, stretching from Cape Girardeau, Missouri, to the Mississippi delta. They were begun by French settlers in Louisiana in the 18th century to protect the city of New Orleans. [14] The first Louisiana levees were about 90cm (3ft) high and covered a distance of about 80km (50mi) along the riverside. [14] The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, in conjunction with the Mississippi River Commission, extended the levee system beginning in 1882 to cover the riverbanks from Cairo, Illinois to the mouth of the Mississippi delta in Louisiana. [14] By the mid-1980s, they had reached their present extent and averaged 7.3m (24ft) in height; some Mississippi levees are as high as 15m (50ft). The Mississippi levees also include some of the longest continuous individual levees in the world. One such levee extends southwards from Pine Bluff, Arkansas, for a distance of some 610km (380mi). The scope and scale of the Mississippi levees has often been compared to the Great Wall of China. [15]Matt Rosenberg. "Dikes of the Netherlands— Geography". Geography.about.com. Archived from the original on 1 February 2009 . Retrieved 6 December 2014.

Letter to the King (8 September 1563?) LCM. Vol. II, p. 90, cited in Potter, David, The French Wars of Religion: Selected Documents (New York 1997) p. 14 The successors of Louis XIV were not as passionate about the monarch's daily routine and, over time, the frequency of the lever and coucher decreased, much to the dismay of their courtiers. [6] Great Britain [ edit ] Charles Wild (1816) St James's Palace, Queen's Levee RoomProminent levee systems have been built along the Mississippi River and Sacramento River in the United States, and the Po, Rhine, Meuse River, Rhône, Loire, Vistula, the delta formed by the Rhine, Maas/Meuse and Scheldt in the Netherlands and the Danube in Europe. During the Chinese Warring States period, the Dujiangyan irrigation system was built by the Qin as a water conservation and flood control project. The system's infrastructure is located on the Minjiang ( Chinese: 岷江; pinyin: Mínjiāng), which is the longest tributary of the Chang Jiang, in Sichuan, China.