Angkor Wat used a moat to hold a billion tons of water
To keep its massive stone temples from sinking into the swamp, the Khmer Empire built a moat so large it held more water than a modern reservoir.
Angkor Wat is a 400-pound-per-square-inch heavyweight sitting on a giant sponge. To prevent the massive sandstone temple from shifting in the soft Cambodian soil, 12th-century engineers surrounded it with a 200-meter-wide moat. This wasn't for defense; it was a hydraulic stabilizer. The moat kept the groundwater levels beneath the temple constant year-round, preventing the sandy foundation from expanding in the monsoon or shrinking in the drought.
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