This practice was raised to a ceremonial custom at the court of King Louis XIV. [5] In the court etiquette that Louis formalised, the set of extremely elaborate conventions was divided into the grand lever, attended by the full court in the gallery outside the king's bedchamber, and the petit lever that transpired in degrees in the king's chamber, where only a very select group might serve the king as he rose and dressed. [5] In fact, the king had often risen early and put in some hours hunting before returning to bed for the start of the lever. Louis's grandson, King Philip V of Spain, and his queen typically spent all morning in bed, as reported by Saint-Simon, to avoid the pestering by ministers and courtiers that began with the lever. Seismic surveys provide information about material velocities, delineation of interfaces between zones of differing velocities, and depths to these interfaces. The seismic method requires a contrast in wave transmission velocities and that any underlying stratum transmit waves be at a higher velocity than the overlying stratum. If the surface terrain and/or the layer interface are steeply sloping or irregular, a seismic survey is not recommended. Electrical resistivity surveys can be used to locate and define zones of different electrical properties, such as pervious and impervious zones of low resistivity, such as clayey strata. The resistivity method requires a resistivity contrast between the materials being located. Levees occur in the lower course close lower course The final section of a river located on flat land. of a river when there is an increase in the volume of water flowing downstream and flooding occurs. In situations where undisturbed samples are either not being obtained or are difficult to obtained, in situ vane shear tests can be used to determine undrained shear strength. If shells or fibrous organic material are present, it can lead to errors in the test.

USACE Program Levees," US Army Corps of Engineers at www.usace.army.mil/Missions/CivilWorks/LeveeSafetyProgram/USACEProgramLevees.aspx For levees composed of pervious and impervious materials, there are three types of levee embankment constructions, classified according to the construction method used. These include compacted, semi-compacted, and uncompacted. The ceremonies were abbreviated when the king was at Marly or one of his other occasional retreats, providing a sense of intimacy that was only comparative, but engendering struggles among courtiers to be invited on such occasions, precisely the kind of competition Louis fostered.In addition to creating living space and cropland, levees can also provide a measure of protection from invaders. Levees can make a river like a moat, preventing people from easily invading territory on the other side. Destroying levees can also stop invading forces. In 1938, Chinese leaders intentionally broke levees on the Yellow River to prevent the Japanese military from advancing. More than 500,000 people, Japanese and Chinese, died in the resultingflood. In the decades that followed the deadly flood of 1953, Dutch engineers set out to build a new kind of barrier against the sea. They steadily replaced the old dike system, which had been in place since the medieval ages, and created 3­50 miles (563 km) of what many consider the safest levee system in the world. History of Levees, FEMA, PDF at https://www.fema.gov/media-library-data/1463585486484-d22943de4883b61a6ede15aa57a78a7f/History_of_Levees_0512_508.pdf The practice of holding court levées was continued by the British monarchy until 1939. These took the form of a formal reception at St James's Palace at which officials, diplomats, and military officers of all three armed services, were presented individually to the sovereign. Full dress uniform or court dress was worn by all participants, who formed a queue in the Throne Room before stepping forward when their names and ranks were called. Each then bowed to the king who was seated on a dais with male members of his family, officials of the Royal Household and senior officers behind him. [9] Levees in the British Empire and Commonwealth [ edit ]

In his poem "The Dry Salvages," T.S. Eliot described the river as "a strong brown god," a powerful force that, while often patient and nurturing, frequently proves itself untam­able and merciless. The greatest cities in human history have risen up on the banks of rivers and by the seaside, but in doing so, their builders chose to­ live in close confines with an unruly force. Rivers have surged to wash away whole communities or changed course to abandon prosperous kingdoms to the dust. Even today, ocean storms threaten to decimate centuries' worth of human endeavor. Clearing involves completely removing all objects and obstruction matter above the ground surface. This includes all trees, fallen timber, brush, vegetation, loose stone, abandoned structures, fencing, and other debris. The entire foundation area under the levee and berms should be cleared well in advance of any construction operations. 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. Speakers of American English use the word levee, from the French word levée (from the feminine past participle of the French verb lever, 'to raise'). It originated in New Orleans a few years after the city's founding in 1718 and was later adopted by English speakers. [8] The name derives from the trait of the levee's ridges being raised higher than both the channel and the surrounding floodplains.Levees protecting inhabited river valley areas against inundations during floods were among the earliest engineering works. In ancient Egypt a series of levees was built along the left bank of the Nile River for more than 600 miles (966 km), from Aswan to the Mediterranean. The cooperative and coordinated enterprise involved in building such long, massive embankments must have been a strong incentive for the development of an organized society and a unified government in ancient Egypt, as well as in ancient Mesopotamia and China, which engaged in similar hydraulic engineering projects. Koenig, Robert L. "Managing our rivers: Flood control is coordinated south of Cairo." St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Aug. 29, 1993. Darrel G.F. Long, Grant W. Lowey 2011 , 'Wandering gravel-bed rivers and high-constructive stable channel sandy fluvial Le Lever, engraving by Louis Romanet (1742–1810), after Sigmund Freudenberg (1745-1801) Grand lever [ edit ]

The modern word dike or dyke most likely derives from the Dutch word dijk, with the construction of dikes well attested as early as the 11th century. The 126-kilometer-long (78mi) Westfriese Omringdijk, completed by 1250, was formed by connecting existing older dikes. The Roman chronicler Tacitus mentions that the rebellious Batavi pierced dikes to flood their land and to protect their retreat (70 CE). [9] The word dijk originally indicated both the trench and the bank. It closely parallels the English verb to dig. [10] Saint-Simon, duc de. "Chapter LXXVIII". Memoirs of Louis XIV. Vol.11 . Retrieved September 8, 2011. 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.htmNew 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. Etymologisch woordenboek van het Nederlands, deel 1: A t/m E– Amsterdam University Press". Aup.nl. Archived from the original on 26 March 2017 . Retrieved 12 February 2015. 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. The river is on its floodplain with a very low gradient close gradient Another word for steepness. On a graph, the gradient is defined as being the change in the 'y' value divided by the change in the 'x' value. It defines how steep a line is..