Located across the Medo Valley southeast of the city of Almaty in Kazakhstan, the Meadow Dam is designed to protect the city from destructive debris flows or mudflows. It was established in 1966 with a series of four initial blasts totaling 1,800 tons and a final blast of 3,600 tons of ammonium nitrate-based explosives. It was built by the famous Siberian mathematician Mikhail Lavrentyev.