On the river–lake relationship of the middle Yangtze reaches

The geological and meteorological setting of the Jianghan–Dongting lake area leads to high precipitation and siltation, but poor water discharge, thus the area is frequently flooded. In the past the river–lake relationship of the Middle Yangtze has been variable but has deteriorated recently under increasing human influence. The Jianghan Plain of the Middle Yangtze becomes a waterlogged lowland under the constant threat of flooding from the perched Jingjiang River. Due to siltation and land reclamation the Dongting Lake has lost most of its regulatory function for the river and has become increasingly vulnerable to flood disasters. The Middle Yangtze River has been undergoing siltation, resulting from a downstream decline of sediment transport capacity, resulting in the elevation of the flood level above the lowlands. Heightening of the levees has caused further siltation of the channel.The Three Gorges Reservoir will provide a buffering period of 50–80 years, during which much of the silt will be trapped in the reservoir and scouring downstream may occur. We should utilize this period to work out an overall resolution to the problem. Construction of a water and silt diversion project in the Honghu Lake and surrounding areas may resolve this problem in the dangerous Chenglingji–Wuhan Segment of the Yangtze. Widening the canals connecting the Middle Yangtze and Han Rivers may function as a discharge-dividing channel of the Yangtze, which may prove to be beneficial.     

Acoustic Doppler current profiler surveys along the Yangtze River

An acoustic Doppler current profiler is used to characterize the river velocity against the morphology of the Yangtze River from Chonqing to the sea. High flow velocities occur in the Three Gorges section and lower velocities in the middle and lower reaches of the river. This is largely due to the change in river pattern from a high gradient deeply-cut valley to a flat fluvial plain. Flow velocities fluctuate in the middle Yangtze due to the presence of meander bends of different length. There are numerous smaller velocity fluctuations in the lower Yangtze channel that reflect multichannel pattern with numerous sand bars and a river morphology affected by bedrock outcrops. Water depths of 40–100 m occur in the Three Gorges valley but decrease to 15–40 m in the middle and lower Yangtze. At the Gezhou Reservoir, 30 km downstream of the Three Gorges damsite velocity drops to low (< 1.0 m s^− 1) 20 km reach. A second low velocity (< 0.5 m s^− 1) zone, about 20 km in length, is located in the lower Yangtze near the coast probably due to the tidal influence. The results from this research will serve as a datum for evaluating changes to the river once the Three Gorges dam is completed in 2009.     

Seasonal variations of sediment discharge from the Yangtze River before and after impoundment of the Three Gorges Dam

Over the past decades, > 50,000 dams and reforestation on the Yangtze River (Changjiang) have had little impact on water discharge but have drastically altered annual and particularly seasonal sediment discharge. Before impoundment of the Three Gorges Dam (TGD) in June 2003, annual sediment discharge had decreased by 60%, and the hysteresis of seasonal rating curves in the upper reaches at Yichang station had shifted from clockwise to counterclockwise. In addition, the river channel in middle-lower reaches had changed from depositional to erosional in 2002.During the four years (2003–2006) after TGD impoundment, ~ 60% of sediment entering the Three Gorges Reservoir was trapped, primarily during the high-discharge months (June–September). Although periodic sediment deposition continues downstream of the TGD, during most months substantial erosion has occurred, supplying ~ 70 million tons per year (Mt/y) of channel-derived sediment to the lower reaches of the river. If sand extraction (~ 40 Mt/y) is taken into consideration, the river channel loses a total of 110 Mt/y. During the extreme drought year 2006, sediment discharge in the upper reaches drastically decreased to 9 Mt (only 2% of its 1950–1960s level) because of decreased water discharge and TGD trapping. In addition, Dongting Lake in the middle reaches, for the first time, changed from trapping net sediment from the mainstem to supplying 14 Mt net sediment to the mainstem. Severe channel erosion and drastic sediment decline have put considerable pressure on the Yangtze coastal areas and East China Sea.     

三峡工程建设背景下的洞庭湖区治水方略探讨

在长江三峡工程建设的大背景下,本文分析了洞庭湖区的水灾减灾机制,探讨了洞庭湖区的治水方略,提出应充分发挥三峡水库的调蓄功能,协调江湖关系,改善冲淤关系,加强水利工程建设,实现三峡水库与湖南四水水库的优化调度     

Geochronology of detrital muscovite and zircon constrains the sediment provenance changes in the Yangtze River during the late Cenozoic

The geometry and evolution of rivers originating from the Tibetan plateau are influenced by topography and climate change during the India‐Asia collision. The Yangtze River is the longest among these rivers and formed due to capturing many rivers on the eastern Tibetan Plateau by the middle Yangtze. The timing of these capture events is still controversial. Here, we use detrital muscovite ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar and zircon U–Pb ages to constrain the provenance of late Cenozoic sediments in the Jianghan Basin in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River. The combined data suggest that late Pliocene sediments were mainly derived from a local source in the Jianghan Basin including the Dabie Shan. The middle Pleistocene sediments were derived from the Min River west of the Three Gorges. This implies that at least one river, perhaps the palaeo‐Han River, originating from the Dabie Shan region, flowed through the centre of the Jianghan Basin during the late Pliocene. The appearance of sediment from the Min River in the Jianghan Basin somewhere between late Pliocene and middle Pleistocene suggests that the Three Gorges section of the Yangtze River was formed somewhere between late Pliocene and middle Pleistocene (N₂– Q₂).     

Exhumation of the Huangling anticline in the Three Gorges region: Cenozoic sedimentary record from the western Jianghan Basin,China

Within the interior of the Yangtze Craton, the dome‐like Huangling anticline exposes ca. 1000 km² of Archaean basement and Neoproterozoic granitoid rocks in the Three Gorges region, providing a natural laboratory for studying the mechanism of intracontinental exhumation. Cretaceous shortening of the Qinling Orogen and Cenozoic reorganization of the Yangtze River have been considered by previous thermochronology studies to account for the two‐phase exhumation of the Huangling anticline. However, little is known about when and how the batholithic rocks were exposed to the surface. To fully reveal the exhumation history of the Huangling anticline, we focus on the Cenozoic sedimentary record in the western Jianghan Basin, downstream of the Three Gorges, and examined spatio‐temporal changes in sedimentation dynamic and provenance on the basis of sedimentary facies, palaeocurrents and clast compositions, as well as zircon U‐Pb geochronology. Our results indicate continuous unroofing of the Huangling anticline since the Eocene and provide a solid evidence for first exposure of the Huangling batholith during the Neogene. Cenozoic exhumation of the Huangling anticline is synchronous with incision of the Three Gorges, indicating a mechanism of intracontinental exhumation due to Yangtze River reorganization through which the Middle Yangtze River was progressively captured by the Lower Yangtze River with locally increased erosion rates in the Three Gorges.     

Applying energy theory to understand the relationship between the Yangtze River and Poyang Lake

The complex relationship between the Yangtze River and Poyang Lake controls the exchange of water and sediment between the two, and exerts effects on water resources, flooding, shipping, and the ecological environment. The theory of energy is applied in this paper to investigate the physical mechanisms that determine the nature of the contact between the Yangtze River and Poyang Lake and to establish an energy difference (F_e) index to quantify the interactions between the two systems. Data show that F_e values for this interaction have increased since the 1950s, indicating a weakening in the river effect while the lake effect has been enhanced. Enclosure of the Three Gorges Reservoir (TGR) has also significantly influenced the relationship between the river and the lake by further reducing the impacts of the Yangtze River. The river effect also increases slightly during the dry season, and decreases significantly at the end of the flooding period, while interactions between the two to some extent influence the development of droughts and floods within the lake area. Data show that when the flow of the five rivers within this area is significant and a blocking effect due to the Yangtze River is also clearly apparent, floods occur easily; in contrast, when the opposite is true and the flow of the five rivers is small, and the Yangtze River can accommodate the flow, droughts occur frequently. Construction and enclosure of the TGR also means that the lake area is prone to droughts during September and October.     

基于能量的鄱阳湖——长江相互作用表征指标研究（英文）

The complex relationship between the Yangtze River and Poyang Lake controls the exchange of water and sediment between the two,and exerts effects on water resources,flooding,shipping,and the ecological environment.The theory of energy is applied in this paper to investigate the physical mechanisms that determine the nature of the contact between the Yangtze River and Poyang Lake and to establish an energy differenceindex to quantify the interactions between the two systems.Data show that Fe values for this interaction have increased since the 1950s,indicating a weakening in the river effect while the lake effect has been enhanced.Enclosure of the Three Gorges Reservoir(TGR)has also significantly influenced the relationship between the river and the lake by further reducing the impacts of the Yangtze River.The river effect also increases slightly during the dry season,and decreases significantly at the end of the flooding period,while interactions between the two to some extent influence the development of droughts and floods within the lake area.Data show that when the flow of the five rivers within this area is significant and a blocking effect due to the Yangtze River is also clearly apparent,floods occur easily;in contrast,when the opposite is true and the flow of the five rivers is small,and the Yangtze River can accommodate the flow,droughts occur frequently.Construction and enclosure of the TGR also means that the lake area is prone to droughts during September and October.     

祁连山东段河流阶地的形成时代与机制探讨

第四纪期间祁连山东段发育了多级洪积台地与河流阶地,它们是研究区域构造活动与气候变化良好的载体。对该区主要河流阶地序列的野外考察,利用ESR、TL、IRSL以及¹⁴C等测年方法,研究表明,第四纪期间石羊河上游的各大支流普遍发育了5-6级阶地,其中南营村附近金塔河五级河流阶地的形成时代大致为1.24MaB.P.(T₅)、0.78MaB.P.(T₄)、0.14MaB.P.(T₃)、0.06MaB.P.(T₂)和0.01MaB.P.(T₁),完全可以与该区沙沟河、黄河兰州段以及长江三峡段的阶地序列相对比。从各级阶地砾石层的堆积时代以及阶地的沉积特征分析,我们认为,即使在构造活动区域,气候变化在河流地貌演化过程之中起着重要的控制作用。     

A proposed Laramide proto-Grand Canyon

The absence of “rim gravels” north of Grand Canyon and of “Canaan Peak-type” gravels south of Grand Canyon suggests that a paleocanyon, which intersected the transport of these gravels north and south, may have begun forming in the Laramide in approximately the same position as today's central Grand Canyon. This Laramide-age canyon is envisioned as having flowed generally from the SW to NE; from the Peach Springs Canyon area to Mile 197 where it was captured by karst; then along a N. 60°E joint system to the Kanab Point area where it converged with drainage coming off the west side of the Kaibab arch. From there it flowed north along the west flank of the Kaibab arch to Paleogene Lake Claron. The critical idea suggested by this proposed model is that the modern Colorado River utilized Laramide paleotopography in establishing its course through the central Grand Canyon, with younger sections of the canyon integrating with it later, in the middle to late Miocene. This paleocanyon route, in association with headward erosion from the Grand Wash Cliffs toward the Kaibab arch after 16–17 Ma, helps account for the total volume of rock eroded from Grand Canyon, which cannot be explained by present-day incision rates.     

三峡地区城市与河流关系的时空演化研究

主要采用历史文献和城市沿革分析,对314BC-AD2013 年间三峡地区城市与河流关系的时空演变特征进行宏观分析,结果表明：从时间演变看,战国西汉时期,三峡地区城市主要沿长江干流缓慢增长;东汉隋唐时期,三峡地区城市由长江干流向支流迅速蔓延;宋元明清时期,三峡地区城市沿长江干流调整稳固;民国以来,三峡地区城市主要依托重庆、宜昌两市极化增长;唐代是三峡地区城市发展的分水岭,明清是三峡地区城市格局的成型期,现代则是三峡地区核心城市的极化期。从空间分布看,2300 年来,以城址论,三峡地区共出现过61 个城市,其中71%的城市分布于长江干流沿岸,73%的城市分布于两河交汇处,82%的城市分布于海拔300 m以下的河谷地带,小河流域城市多从河流下游向上游拓展。总体来看,三峡地区的城市发展体现了其由易到难、由低到高、溯江而上的区域开发时序。     

Late Quaternary uplift rate of the northeastern Japan arc inferred from fluvial terraces

Glacial Lake Wisconsin was a large proglacial lake that formed along the southern margin of the Laurentide Ice Sheet during the Wisconsin glaciation. It was formed when ice of the Green Bay Lobe came into contact with the Baraboo Hills in southwestern Wisconsin and blocked the south-flowing Wisconsin River. During early glacial recession, the ice dam failed catastrophically and the lake drained in about a week. Despite early recognition of the former lake and the likelihood that it failed catastrophically, outflow rates during the failure have not been previously evaluated. Estimates based on step-backwater modeling indicate that peak discharge was between 3.6 and 5.3 × 10⁴ m³/s in the lower Wisconsin River. As an alternate method, we used a previously derived empirical relationship between lake volume and peak discharge for dam-break events. From a digital elevation model altered to incorporate isostatic depression, we estimated the lake volume to be 87 km³ just prior to dam breach, suggesting that the flooding magnitude was as high as 1.5 × 10⁵ m³/s at the outlet. Adjusting these results for downstream flood wave attenuation gives a discharge of around 4.4 × 10⁴ m³/s in the lower reach, which closely matches the results of the step-backwater modeling. These estimates of discharge from the catastrophic failure of ice-marginal lakes improve our understanding of the processes that have produced the morphology and behavior of present-day upper Midwest river systems.     

Reconstruction of paleoenvironments of the Great Salt Lake Basin during the late Cenozoic

This study summarizes the results of micropaleontological, sedimentological, and isotope geochemical analyses of cuttings from five deep wells drilled in the Great Salt Lake (Utah, USA). Spanning the last 5.0 million yrs, our environmental history of the Great Salt Lake distinguishes four intervals based on paleobiological and sedimentological characteristics, using a previously developed tephrochronology for age control. For most of its history, the Great Salt Lake Basin has been occupied by a mixture of marsh, shallow lacustrine and sand flat conditions. In contrast, open lake conditions, typical of the Bonneville cycles and the modern Great Salt Lake apparently have only dominated the basin for the past 0.6-0.8 Ma. The two main structural basins in the study area (the North and South Basins) experienced different lacustrine histories. Large but frequently saline lakes occupied the North Basin after about 0.6 Ma. In the South Basin, ephemeral, saline lacustrine conditions started at 2.1 Ma and developed to full lacustrine conditions at 0.3 Ma. Our paleoenvironmental interpretations are broadly consistent with the aquatic palynological records from the same wells, as well as with the prior core- and outcrop-based lines of evidence. However, the differences in lake history between the North and South Basin have not been previously recognized.     

近10 年来长江口水下三角洲的冲淤变化 ——-兼论三峡工程蓄水的影响

根据对近10 年来长江入海泥沙量和河口冲淤的对比分析, 探讨水下三角洲冲淤对长江入海泥沙锐减以及三峡工程运行的响应。结果表明: (1) 三峡水库蓄水导致长江入海泥沙减少1×10⁸ t/a 量级; (2) 1995-2000 年、2000-2004 年和2004-2005 年研究区淤积(冲刷) 面积分别占75.5% (24.5%)、30.5% (69.5%) 和14% (86%), 垂向冲淤速率(负为冲刷) 分别为6.4 cm/a、-3.8 cm/a 和-21 cm/a。(3) 由于地形和水动力的变化以及工程的影响, 研究区内冲淤对河流来沙减少的响应存在显著空间差异。结论包括: 三峡水库蓄水加剧了长江入海泥沙的减少; 入海泥沙的锐减是水下三角洲从淤积为主向侵蚀为主转变的主要原因。随着水库拦沙能力的增强等流域人类活动的影响, 长江入海泥沙将进一步下降, 河口口门区的冲刷可能加剧, 值得有关部门重视。     

Sub-bottom profiling and coring of sub-basins along the lower French River, Ontario: insights into depositional environments within the North Bay outlet

Sub-bottom profiling was conducted at eight sub-basins within the lower French River area, Ontario, to investigate deposits preserved within the ancient North Bay outlet. Ten cores were collected that targeted the four depositional acoustic facies identified in the sub-bottom profiling records. The rhythmically laminated/bedded glaciolacustrine deposits of facies I are interpreted to have aggraded within glacial Lake Algonquin and its associated recessional lakes that persisted between 13,000 and 11,300 cal BP (~11,100 and 9,900 BP). The majority of the facies II, III and IV lacustrine deposits accumulated between about 9,500 cal BP (~8,500 BP) and the mid-Holocene, based on radiocarbon-dated organic materials. These deposits represent sedimentation within a ‘large’ lake during the late portion of the Mattawa-Stanley phase, and the Nipissing transgression, Nipissing Great Lakes and post-Nipissing recession phases of lake levels. Two sets of organic-rich sand beds are preserved within facies II deposits and reveal that the large lake lacustrine depositional environment was interrupted during the late Mattawa-Stanley phase between 9,500–9,300 and 9,000–8,400 cal BP (~8,500–8,300 and ~8,000–7,600 BP), when the water surface of Lake Hough fell below the outlet threshold and the lake basin became hydrologically closed. Pre-9,500 cal BP (~8,500 BP), the early and middle portions of the Mattawa-Stanley phase were dominated by erosion, as reflected by an unconformity at the base of facies II that occurs widely in the sub-basins and the general lack of preserved deposits for these intervals in the cores. This erosion is attributed to wave action and fluvial scouring within the outlet mouth during the early and mid-Stanley-Hough low stages and relates specifically to the period when the flowing portion of the North Bay outlet was situated over the lower French River area. This study reveals that the majority of the post-glacial deposits accumulated after the outlet threshold had shifted permanently eastwards and the lower French River area was inundated under the multiple phases of the large lake occupying the Nipissing Lowlands and Georgian-Huron basins, extending well into the mid-Holocene. The occurrence of deposits marking two closed-basin intervals during the late Stanley-Hough stage are well preserved locally within the lacustrine depositional sequence, but identifying earlier closed-basin intervals from the French River stratigraphy is hindered by the lack of preserved pre-9,500 cal BP (~8,500 BP) post-glacial deposits.     

洞庭湖区湿地恢复的生态补偿效应评估

洞庭湖是我国最大的淡水湖泊湿地景观生态系统之一,湿地资源丰富。但由于人类不同历史时期的围垦和不合理的开发利用,导致湖泊湿地生态系统严重退化,湿地面积大为减少。随着洞庭湖区按照国家“退田还湖,移民建镇”的整体战略部署,以及“4350”工程的实施,湖泊面积、湿地资源将会得以恢复。然而,退田还湖中移民农户为保护与恢复湿地,牺牲了部分利益,成为受损方。洞庭湖区湖泊湿地的退田还湖工程是恢复长江生态功能系统工程中一个很重要的子系统,工程能否顺利实施的关键在于退田还湖农民在其中损失的利益能否得到补偿,及其为生态恢复所作的贡献能否得到承认。作者在实地调查和试验的基础上,依据环境经济学原理和方法,对洞庭湖湿地恢复引起的湖区农户收益减少和一系列的湿地生态服务功能的恢复表现,进行了价值评估,由此得出湿地恢复应对湖区移民农户的生态补偿值。以湿地恢复的生态补偿评估为基础,探讨了评估方法与建立补偿机制重要性,以期实现“以人为本”的战略目标,也为顺利进行退田还湖的后期工作,广泛调动广大群众生态建设的积极性,为合理建立生态补偿机制提供参考。     

Flux and fate of Yangtze River sediment delivered to the East China Sea

Numerous cores and dating show the Yangtze River has accumulated about 1.16 × 10¹² t sediment in its delta plain and proximal subaqueous delta during Holocene. High-resolution seismic profiling and coring in the southern East China Sea during 2003 and 2004 cruises has revealed an elongated ( 800 km) distal subaqueous mud wedge extending from the Yangtze River mouth southward off the Zhejiang and Fujian coasts into the Taiwan Strait. Overlying what appears to be a transgressive sand layer, this distal clinoform thins offshore, from  40 m thickness between the 20 and 30 m water depth to < 1–2 m between 60 and 90 m water depth, corresponding to an across shelf distance of less than 100 km. Total volume of this distal mud wedge is about 4.5 × 10¹¹ m³, equivalent to  5.4 × 10¹¹ t of sediment. Most of the sediment in this mud wedge comes from the Yangtze River, with some input presumably coming from local smaller rivers. Thus, the total Yangtze-derived sediments accumulated in its deltaic system and East China Sea inner shelf have amounted to about 1.7 × 10¹² t. Preliminary analyses suggest this longshore and across-shelf transported clinoform mainly formed in the past 7000 yrs after postglacial sea level reached its mid-Holocene highstand, and after re-intensification of the Chinese longshore current system. Sedimentation accumulation apparently increased around 2000 yrs BP, reflecting the evolution of the Yangtze estuary and increased land erosion due to human activities, such as farming and deforestation. The southward-flowing China Coastal Current, the northward-flowing Taiwan Warm Current, and the Kuroshio Current appear to have played critical roles in transporting and trapping most of Yangtze-derived materials in the inner shelf, and hence preventing the sediment escape into the deep ocean.     

Analysis of deposition and erosion of Dongting Lake by GIS

The Dongting Lake is located in the south beach of the middle reaches of the Yangtze River. Its catchment, with an area of 262,823 km2 or about 12% of the total Yangtze River catchment, is situated between 28o43?29o32扤 and 112o54?113o8扙, and crosses Hubei and Hunan provinces in administrative division. The main tributaries include Xiangjiang, Zishui, Yuanjiang, Lishui rivers (4 Tributaries) and some local rivers, such as Miluo River, Xinqiang River and other little streams. In the nor…     

Geomorphological evidence for the Late Holocene evolution and the Holocene lake level maximum of the Aral Sea

During the Holocene the Aral Sea underwent various transgressive and regressive phases of different magnitudes. However, previous work has not yet fully clarified the evolution and chronology of the individual phases. Research presented here throws light on the evolution of the Aral Sea during the past  2000 years. It includes field surveys, tachymetric and DGPS-derived altitude measurements, analysis of sediments from two areas of the northern and southern Aral Basin (Tastubek Bay and Karaumbet Bay), and their correlation with GIS-based lake area models. Geomorphological and sedimentological evidence from the study areas shows a transgression of the Aral Sea around 200 AD, ending at a lake level maximum of 54 to 55 m. After a medieval regression, the lake reached this level again between the late 16th and early 19th century AD. The digital elevation model SRTM-3 was used to estimate a lake size of 72,400 km² for the lake level maximum.Elevated palaeoshorelines, specifically at 72–73 m, are completely absent in the study areas. Local remains of escarpments at elevations of 66 m and 73 m are due to resistant Miocene caprock and are therefore not interpretable as shoreline features.     

Analysis of deposition and erosion of Dongting Lake by GIS

The sediments of the Dongting Lake come from four channels (one of them was closed in 1959), connected with the Yangtze River, four tributaries (Lishui, Yuanjiang, Zishui and Xiangjiang) and local area, and some of them are transported into the Yangtze River in Chenglingji, which is located at the exit of the Dongting Lake, some of them deposit into drainage system in the lake region and the rest deposit into the lake. The annual mean sediment is 166,555x104 t, of which 80% come from the four channels, 18% from the four tributaries and 2% from local area, whereas 26% of the total sediments are transported into the Yangtze River and 74% deposited into the lake and the lake drainage system. Based on topographic maps of 1974, 1988 and 1998, and the spatial analysis method with geographic information system (GIS), changes in sediment deposition and erosion are studied in this paper. By overlay analysis of 1974 and 1988, 1988 and 1998, erosion and sediments deposition areas are defined. The main conclusions are: (1) sediment rate in the lake is larger than erosion rate from 1974 to 1998. The mean deposition in the lake is 0.43 m; (2) annual sediment deposition is the same between 1974-1988 and 1988-1998, but the annual volume of deposition and erosion of 1988-1998 is bigger than that in 1974-1988; (3) before the completion of the Three Gorges Reservoir, there will be 7.82x108 m3 of sediments deposited in the lake, which would make the lake silted up by 0.33 m; (4) in the lake, the deposition area is found in the north of the east Dongting Lake, the south-west of the south Dongting Lake, and the east of the west Dongting Lake; while the eroded area is in the south of the east Dongting Lake, the middle of the south Dongting Lake, the west of the west Dongting Lake, as well as Xiangjiang and Lishui river flood channels.