scholarly journals Sediment dynamics in the mudbank of the Yangtze Estuary under regime shift of source and sink

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dai Zhang ◽  
Weiming Xie ◽  
Jian Shen ◽  
Leicheng Guo ◽  
Yu Chen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Regime Shift ◽  
Yangtze Estuary ◽  
Sediment Dynamics ◽  
The Yangtze Estuary ◽  
Source And Sink

scholarly journals Ecological Degradation of the Yangtze and Nile Delta-Estuaries in Response to Dam Construction with Special Reference to Monsoonal and Arid Climate Settings

Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (9) ◽  
pp. 1145
Author(s):  
Zhongyuan Chen ◽  
Hao Xu ◽  
Yanna Wang
Keyword(s):  
Regime Shift ◽  
Yangtze Estuary ◽  
Anthropogenic Sources ◽  
Arid Climate ◽  
Dam Construction ◽  
Nutrient Inputs ◽  
The Yangtze Estuary ◽  
Ecological Degradation ◽  
Phytoplankton Communities

This study reviews the monsoonal Yangtze and the arid Nile deltas with the objective of understanding how the process–response between river-basin modifications and delta-estuary ecological degradation are interrelated under contrasting hydroclimate dynamics. Our analysis shows that the Yangtze River had a long-term stepwise reduction in sediment and silicate fluxes to estuary due to dam construction since the 1960s, especially after the Three Gorges Dam (TGD) closed in 2003. By contrast, the Nile had a drastic reduction of sediment, freshwater, and silicate fluxes immediately after the construction of the Aswan High Dam (AHD) in 1964. Seasonal rainfall in the mid-lower Yangtze basin (below TGD) complemented riverine materials to its estuary, but little was available to the Nile coast below the AHD in the hyper-arid climate setting. Nitrogen (N) and phosphate (P) fluxes in both river basins have increased because of the overuse of N- and P-fertilizer, land-use changes, urbanization, and industrialization. Nutrient ratios (N:P:Si) in both delta-estuaries was greatly altered, i.e., Yangtze case: 75:1:946 (1960s–1970s), 86:1:272 (1980s–1990s) and 102:1:75 (2000s–2010s); and Nile case: 6:1:32 (1960s–1970s), 8:1:9 (1980s–1990s), and 45:1:22 (2013), in the context of the optimum of Redfield ratio (N:P:Si = 16:1:16). This led to an ecological regime shift evidenced by a long-term change in phytoplankton communities in the Yangtze estuary, where silicious algae tended to lose dominance since the end of the 1990s, when more toxic dinoflagellates began to emerge. In the Nile estuary, such a regime shift was indicated by the post-dam dramatic reduction in zooplankton standing crop and fish landings until the early 2000s when biological recovery occurred due to nutrient inputs from anthropogenic sources. Although the Yangtze had higher human impacts than the Nile in terms of population, industrialization, and fertilizer application, N concentrations in the Nile estuarine waters surpassed the Yangtze in recent decades. However, eutrophication in the Yangtze estuary is much more intensive than in the Nile, leading to the likelihood of its estuarine water becoming more acidic than ever before. Therefore, ecological degradation in both delta-estuaries does not follow a linear trajectory, due not only to different climate dynamics but also to human forcings. The comparative insights of this study should be incorporated into future integrated coastal management of these two important systems.

Variation behavior of tidal dynamics in the Yangtze Estuary: implying the amplification of hydrodynamics and sediment dynamics by the human intervention

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heqin Cheng ◽  
Wei Chen ◽  
Lizhi Teng ◽  
Xiaoting Yuan
Keyword(s):  
Seasonal Variation ◽  
Suspended Sediment ◽  
Suspended Sediment Concentration ◽  
Sediment Concentration ◽  
Yangtze Estuary ◽  
Sediment Dynamics ◽  
Tidal Range ◽  
Tidal Dynamics ◽  
The Yangtze Estuary ◽  
Tidal Characteristic

<p><span><span>During the last decades, many estuarine systems in Europe (e.g. the Elbe, Ems, Loire) have shown increases in tidal range and in turbidity, which are linked to local human activity (i.e., deepening). Compared to these European estuaries, the Yangtze Estuary is much larger in scales, experiences much stronger river discharge, and it is subject to a strong seasonal variation in freshwater and sediment supply from the drainage area. Moreover, the Yangtze estuary is a complex network with several branches, connecting channels. The changes in the flow and sediment dynamics in the estuary may result from both local and nonlocal human activities. Despite the intense research efforts over the past two decades, it is still unclear which impact (local or nonlocal) is responsible for the changing flow and sediment characteristics in the estuary. Deep investigation of tidal characteristic quantities such as extreme tidal level, tidal range, amplitude of tidal constituents, tidal characteristic coefficient and suspended sediment concentration is performed in a systematic manner. It is accomplished using the extreme value analysis, the wavelet analysis and harmonic analysis of water level at 11 hydrography stations along the tidal river channel (Datong-Nanjing reach) and estuarine section (downstream the Xuliujing) during 2008-2016. Similar data analysis is also performed for the last four decades of 20th century and results are compared with the analysis of the recent measurements. The driving forces of the significant changes in tidal characteristic quantities and suspended sediment concentration are discussed. Results show that the tidal dynamics in the Yangtze estuary has been enhanced. Its seasonal variation is attributed to the adjustment of runoff distribution, which is mainly caused by the operation of Three Gorges Dam. In short-term, local changes of flow/sediment dynamics, terrain changes play a major role. In the long term (on the 40-year time scale), the effect of sea level rise on the increasing M2 constituent is obvious. This has mainly resulted from the enhancing anti-clockwise rotation of the synchronous tidal phase.</span></span></p><p> </p>

ZOOPLANKTON DISTRIBUTION AND VARIATION IN THE YANGTZE ESTUARY AND ITS ADJACENT WATERS IN SUMMER AND AUTUMN

2010 ◽  
Vol 33 (6) ◽  
pp. 1219-1225 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fei-Yan ZHANG ◽  
Jing-Liang TANG ◽  
Dao-Ji LI ◽  
Tao FANG ◽  
Biao WANG
Keyword(s):  
Yangtze Estuary ◽  
The Yangtze Estuary ◽  
Zooplankton Distribution

scholarly journals A Computationally Efficient Shallow Water Model for Mixed Cohesive and Non-Cohesive Sediment Transport in the Yangtze Estuary

Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (10) ◽  
pp. 1435
Author(s):  
Peng Hu ◽  
Junyu Tao ◽  
Aofei Ji ◽  
Wei Li ◽  
Zhiguo He
Keyword(s):  
Sediment Transport ◽  
Yangtze Estuary ◽  
Water Model ◽  
Cohesive Sediments ◽  
Shallow Water Model ◽  
Computationally Efficient ◽  
Time Step ◽  
The Yangtze Estuary ◽  
Erosion Coefficient ◽  
Cohesive Sediment Transport

In this paper, a computationally efficient shallow water model is developed for sediment transport in the Yangtze estuary by considering mixed cohesive and non-cohesive sediment transport. It is firstly shown that the model is capable of reproducing tidal-hydrodynamics in the estuarine region. Secondly, it is demonstrated that the observed temporal variation of suspended sediment concentration (SSC) for mixed cohesive and non-cohesive sediments can be well-captured by the model with calibrated parameters (i.e., critical shear stresses for erosion/deposition, erosion coefficient). Numerical comparative studies indicate that: (1) consideration of multiple sediment fraction (both cohesive and non-cohesive sediments) is important for accurate modeling of SSC in the Yangtze Estuary; (2) the critical shear stress and the erosion coefficient is shown to be site-dependent, for which intensive calibration may be required; and (3) the Deepwater Navigation Channel (DNC) project may lead to enhanced current velocity and thus reduced sediment deposition in the North Passage of the Yangtze Estuary. Finally, the implementation of the hybrid local time step/global maximum time step (LTS/GMaTS) (using LTS to update the hydro-sediment module but using GMaTS to update the morphodynamic module) can lead to a reduction of as high as 90% in the computational cost for the Yangtze Estuary. This advantage, along with its well-demonstrated quantitative accuracy, indicates that the present model should find wide applications in estuarine regions.

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