Somewhere in Western Egypt is the
Qattara Depression, a large area that is quite far below sea level. IIRC one of the early proposals for the "peaceful use" of nuclear explosives was to blast a channel to the Qattara Depression from the Mediterranean Sea, thus creating a new inland sea and perhaps moderating the climate of the western desert, creating more habitable land in Egypt. Another proposal involves using conventional means to excavate large enough channel from the Mediterranean to allow hydroelectric power to be generated by water descending into the Depression (and then evaporating). Apprently this idea has also been shelved for now.