Characteristics of river discharge and its indirect effect on the tidal bore in the Qiantang River,China

Based on field data of river discharge, tide, tidal bore, and riverbed topography, the characteristics of river discharge, the effect of river discharge on riverbed erosion and sedimentation, and the feedback effect of riverbed erosion and sedimentation on the tide and tidal bore in the Qiantang River are analyzed. The results show that the inter-annual and seasonal variation of river discharge in the Qiantang River is noticeable, while the seasonal distribution of river discharge tends to be un...     

Formation of a cohesive floodplain in a dynamic experimental meandering river

Field studies suggest that a cohesive floodplain is a necessary condition for meandering in contrast to braided rivers. However, it is only partly understood how the balance between floodplain construction by overbank deposition and removal by bank erosion and chutes leads to meandering. This is needed because only then does a dynamic equilibrium exist and channels maintain meandering with low width–depth ratios. Our objective is to understand how different styles of floodplain formation such as overbank deposition and lateral accretion cause narrower channels and prevent chute cutoffs that lead to meandering. In this study we present two experiments with a self‐forming channel in identical conditions, but to one we added cohesive silt at the upstream boundary. The effect of cohesive silt on bank stability was tested in auxiliary bank erosion experiments and showed that an increase in silt reduced erosion rates by a factor of 2. The experiment without silt developed to a braided river by continuous and extensive shifting of multiple channels. In contrast, in the meandering river silt deposits increased bank stability of the cohesive floodplain and resulted in a reduction of chute cutoffs and increased sinuosity by continuous lateral migration of a single channel. Overbank flow led to deposition of the silt and two styles of cohesive floodplain were observed: first, overbank vertical‐accretion of silt, e.g. levee, overbank sedimentation or splays; and second, lateral point bar accretion with silt on the scrolls and in the swales. The first style led to a reduction in bank erosion, while the second style reduced excavation of chutes. We conclude that sedimentation of fine cohesive material on the floodplain by discharge exceeding bankfull is a necessary condition for meandering. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

FLUVIAL PROCESSES IN THE LOWER JINGJIANG RIVER：IMPACT OF THE THREE GORGES RESERVOIR IMPOUNDMENT

Sediment supply to the lower Jingjiang River will be subject to substantial reduction after the impoundment of the Three Gorges Reservoir, which could result in an excess of carrying capacity and serious bank erosions in the downstream alluvial channel, threatening the bank protection works and the safety of the Jingjiang Dyke. This paper presents a summary of research works concerning the fluvial processes in the lower Jingjiang River and the possible impact of the Three Gorges Reservoir impoundment on the variation of its channel pattern. Three different predictions have been put forward by researchers: 1) the Jingjiang River will evolve towards a more sinuous, meandering channel pattern, with extensive bank erosion taking place along the river; 2) the river channel will be straightened and broadened because no point bar can be formed due to reduced sediment supply while bank erosion develops in the concave bank, and 3) this river reach will maintain its present channel pattern without significant change, although the sinuosity may be slightly reduced, since: a) the Three Gorges Reservoir mainly intercept sediment particles with sizes larger than 0.025mm, and b) the complex interaction between the Yangtze River and the Dongting Lake helps to reduce the negative effect of channel erosion through certain self-adjusting mechanism in fluvial processes. Discrepancy between these predictions shows that further research efforts are needed to understand the impact of Three Gorges Reservoir operation on the downstream fluvial processes. Meanwhile, there is an urgent need to closely monitor future development in the fluvial processes of the Jingjiang River and its influence on the safety of the Jingjiang Dykes.     

A revised soil erosion budget for India: role of reservoir sedimentation and land‐use protection measures

Among the different controls of erosion budget at basin level, the relative impact of dams and land management is yet to be investigated. In this paper, the impact of dams on sediment yield has been assessed by using a conceptual modelling framework which considers the gross erosion and the cascade of dams constructed on a river network. The sediment budget has been estimated based on the gross erosion, deposition of sediment in reservoirs, and sediment yields of 23 mainland river basins of India. The gross erosion of the country is estimated as 5.11 ± 0.4 Gt yr^?1 or 1559 t km^?2 yr^?1, out of which 34.1 ± 12% of the total eroded soil is deposited in the reservoirs, 22.9 ± 29% is discharged outside the country (mainly to oceans), and the remaining 43.0 ± 41% is displaced within the river basins. The river basins of northern India contribute about 81% of the total sediment yield from landmass while the share of southern river basins is 19%. The components of revised sediment budget for India are prominently influenced by the sediment trapped in reservoirs and the treatment of catchment areas by soil and water conservation measures. Analysis of sediment deposition in 4937 reservoirs indicated the average annual percentage capacity loss as 1.04% though it varies from 0.8% to >2% per year in smaller dams (1–50 Mm³ capacity) and from <0.5% to 0.8% per year in larger dams (51 to >1000 Mm³ capacity). Siltation of smaller dams poses a serious threat to their ecosystem services as they cater to a wider population for domestic, agricultural, and industrial purposes. Amongst the environment controls, land use significantly impacts the gross erosion rate and specific sediment yield as compared to climatic and topographic parameters. However, to analyse their integrated effect on the complex processes of sediment fluxes in a basin, further research efforts are needed. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Influences of retrogressive erosion of reservoir on sedimentation of its downstream river channel——A case study on Sanmenxia Reservoir and the Lower Yellow River

Retrogressive erosion, a widespread phenomenon of sediment transport in reservoirs, often impacts on both the reservoir capacity and the sedimentation in the downstream river channel. Based on field data from the Sanmenxia Reservoir and the Lower Yellow River over the past decades, three courses of ret-rogressive erosion with distinctive features were analyzed. The results indicate that retrogressive erosion, especially caused by rapid reduction in the water level till the reservoir is empty, often results in the serious siltation of the lower Yellow River and threatens the safety of the flood control in the Lower Yellow River. Unreasonable operation of the reservoir and incoming hyperconcentrated floods accom-panied by retrogressive erosion also aggravate the siltation of the main channel of the river. However, a reasonable operation mode of the reservoir so named"storing the clear (low sediment concentration) water in the non–flood season, and sluicing the muddy(high sediment concentration) water in the flood season" was found, which might mitigate the deposition in both the reservoir and the Lower Yellow River. This operation mode provides important experience for the design and operation of large reser-voirs in other large rivers carrying huge amounts of sediment.     

Impact of cascade reservoirs on continuity of river water temperature: A temperature trend hypothesis in river

Water temperature is an important habitat factor in river ecosystems that exhibits the characteristics of continuous change. Dam construction disrupts the continuity of river water temperature and reset it, thus exerting sharp rise/decrease on the characteristics of water temperature change. The effect of a dam on river continuity is directly related to the dam size. To explain this relationship, two rivers in China were selected: one river without reservoirs and one river with cascade reservoirs. Through the analysis of the longitudinal change of water temperature in free-flowing rivers, we found that water temperature changes continuously and steadily in the longitudinal direction. Based on this, a temperature trend hypothesis in river was proposed, and the discontinuity of the water temperature in the reservoir section was evaluated. The results are as follows: (1) In mixed reservoirs, river water temperature remained as continuous as free-flowing rivers. However, the river water temperature had a large discontinuity in the stratified reservoir. (2) Water residence time was used as an indicator of the continuity of reservoir water temperature. (3) Selective withdrawal of stratified reservoirs in January could not remove the discontinuity caused by itself, but it worked in June.     

筑坝拦截对黑河河道沉积物粒度空间分布的影响

河流沉积物对流域环境变化具有敏感响应,其粒度参数能反映沉积环境中物质来源和水动力环境.本文以黑河流域上中游为研究区域,探究河流沉积物粒度对流域环境变化的响应.从黑河上中游干流22个主要控制断面采集河床沉积物样品,采用筛分法和吸管法对沉积物样品粒度参数进行测定,并分析其空间分布规律对筑坝拦截为主的环境改变响应.研究结果表明：受梯级水库建设影响,黑河上中游泥沙粒径大小差异显著.干流库区泥沙粒径较自然河段明显减小,分选很好,呈正偏或极正偏尖锐分布,而且在库区不同沉积高度上表现出分层沉积特征;坝下游河段因遭受强烈冲刷,较自然河段泥沙粒径粗化显著,分选变差,偏态趋向极正偏,峰态尖锐化;水库回水区受水库壅水及下泄清水的双重制约,泥沙粒度参数介于自然河段和坝下游河段之间,整体分选中等,呈极正偏尖锐分布;沉积环境分析表明,上游支流河段沉积物粒度特征受泥沙供给和物源特征的影响较水动力条件显著,干流河段沉积物粒度特征主要受水动力条件控制.研究结果既符合河流上中游沉积物粒度分布规律,也反映了河流环境变化对沉积物粒度组成的影响.     

The effect of instream logs on river-bank erosion: Field measurements of hydraulics and erosion rates

This is the first substantial field measurement of river-bank erosion around fallen logs in rivers. Whilst numerous studies have established that living trees can stabilize river banks, and that fallen trees can cause scour of the river bed, knowledge of bank erosion effects from logs is largely restricted to qualitative observations. Recent flume studies suggest that a single log can increase near-bank velocity (and thus erosion) and this increase is related to the blockage ratio of the log and the distance between the log and bank. However, hydraulic interactions between logs can reduce this increase or even decrease the near-bank velocity. These theories, developed in a straight flume, have not been tested in the field. We measured erosion rates (relative to controls) on river banks adjacent to 35 large logs for 2 years, and velocity distributions around 11 logs during a near-bankfull flow in anabranching channels of the River Murray, SE Australia. These channels have abundant large instream logs, consistent bank material, and consistent regulated high flows. The field results generally supported the velocity changes caused by single and multiple logs in the flume studies, with single logs increasing near-bank velocity, but with the hydraulic interactions between successive logs tending to reduce this increase. Flow patterns caused by logs adjacent to curved banks were more complicated as the local effects of logs reinforced or weakened recirculating flows. Instream logs did not change overall, average, bank erosion rates, but they tended to shift the erosion from bank top to bank toe. However, individual logs increased or decreased bank erosion rates in patterns that generally concur with the near-bank velocity changes predicted in flume studies: that isolated logs increased erosion rates whilst hydraulically interacting logs did not increase erosion rates. © 2020 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

江苏省石梁河水库高分辨率沉积速率变化及环境意义

石梁河水库是江苏省最大的人工湖泊.开展水库沉积速率研究,对认识水库环境变化具有重要意义.本文对石梁河水库沉积物岩芯粒度组成特征进行了分析,表明沉积物以黏土质粉砂和粉砂质黏土为主,从底部向上呈明显的变细趋势,并记录了1970年的强降雨事件.采用¹³⁷Cs同位素测年分析,得到1963年和1986年两个时标.通过石梁河水库的沉积年代序列,推算出平均沉积速率:1963 1970年为10.85 cm/a,1970 1986年为3.81 cm/a,1986 2005年为1.32 cm/a.对比粒度沉积特征和流域降水记录,粗颗粒物质和降雨量的变化趋势基本相同,沉积物粒度组成特点直接反映了沉积时的降水、水动力搬运强度等信息.在河川来水来沙、坝前水位变化和地形等条件下,石梁河水库表现为三角洲淤积,且沉积速率逐渐变缓,符合水库淤积的一般规律.此外,石梁河水库上游建设的众多大型水库,拦截了大量泥沙,也使得沉积速率呈现减小趋势.     

Hydrodynamic characteristics of Wujiangdu Reservoir during the dry season—a case study of a canyon reservoir

With the development of hydropower in the karst area of Southwest China, a series of cascade canyon reservoirs have been formed through the construction of dams. Given that hydrodynamic conditions in canyon reservoirs play a pivotal role in controlling the spatiotemporal distribution of physical and chemical properties of the stored water, hydrodynamic characteristics are of great importance in understanding biogeochemical cycles in those reservoirs. To further this understanding, a field campaign was conducted in the Wujiangdu Reservoir of Guizhou Province. It was found that from the reservoir inlet to the front of the dam, velocity(v) was negativelycorrelated and had a logarithmic relationship with distance along the ship track(s) under dry-season flow conditions[v =-0.104 ln(s) + 0.4756]. Analysis showed that dryseason flow velocity had no significant correlation with water temperature, p H, or dissolved oxygen(DO). However, when velocity decreased to 0.061 m/s, water depth increased abruptly. In addition, DO displayed a sudden drop and the trend in p H changed from increasing to decreasing, while water temperature showed an opposite trend, indicating the existence of a transition zone from the river to the reservoir.     

喀斯特地区梯级水库建造对水化学分布的影响

为深入了解河流梯级筑坝对喀斯特地区河流水化学分布的影响,于2017年1、4、7和10月别对乌江干流洪家渡水库(多年调节)、乌江渡水库(季调节)和索风营水库(日调节) 3个具有不同滞留时间的水库进行水样采集,分析入库水、坝前剖面水和下泄水的水化学特征,探讨河流梯级筑坝对水化学分布及风化速率估算的影响.研究结果表明:3个水库深层水比表层水HCO3-浓度分别高12.9%、5.5%和8.0%,Ca²⁺浓度分别高15.9%、2.4%和8.5%.河流梯级筑坝一定程度上改变了水体水化学组成,从而影响碳酸盐岩风化速率估算.整体上,洪家渡水库、索风营水库和乌江渡水库的全年风化速率变化范围分别为:-1.7%～15.4%、-5.6%～1.1%和-0.3%～3.4%.河流筑坝作用对风化速率估算及主量离子浓度的影响:HCO₃^-与Ca²⁺浓度分布均为:洪家水库>乌江渡水库>索风营水库,这与水体滞留时间长短规律一致,表明水体滞留时间影响着水化学的组成分布.同时水体离子浓度表现出明显的季节性差异,丰水期各水库变化率明显...     

Assessment of accumulation rates in small reservoirs by core analysis, 137Cs measurements and bathymetric mapping in Burkina Faso

Reservoir siltation is one of the most important off‐site effects of soil erosion. In Burkina Faso a large number of small dams have been built to store rainfall and runoff water in the rainy season, which is much needed for domestic use, irrigation and stock watering in the dry season. This study quantifies the siltation rates of two small reservoirs in southwestern Burkina Faso by comparing the initial and current reservoir bed morphology and by analyzing variations in accumulated sediment in terms of stratigraphical changes and ¹³⁷Cs concentrations. Results of a bathymetric survey show that both reservoirs have already lost approximately 10% to 15% of their original storage capacity at normal pool level and more than 60% of their initial inactive storage volume at spillway level in the last 15 to 20 years. During this period, inflow sediment had accumulated on the bottom of the reservoir to a thickness of 0.3 m to 0.5 m. Sediment core measurements confirmed this thickness by showing a clear stratigraphical change in core properties with significant variations in the ¹³⁷Cs concentrations at these specific depths. The thickness of accumulated sediment on top of the relict soil indicates that the reservoirs have a ‘half‐life’ of about 40 to 45 years before siltation might affect its water supply and flood control. Compared with other reservoir studies in West Africa these siltation rates can be seen as reasonable but not alarmingly high. Nevertheless, many of the small dams built during the 1980s are likely to reach their ‘half‐life’ in about 10 to 20 years causing hydrological and geomorphological changes upstream and downstream of the dams. Therefore, further research studies should focus on prevention measures to reduce the off‐site effects of erosion and thus to slow down the process of siltation. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Plant pigments as indicators of water transformation in the upper Volga Chain of reservoirs

Results of studying spatial and temporal variability in plant pigments in the Volga River water from the upper sections of the Ivankovo Reservoir downstream to the Rybinsk Reservoir Main Reach, as well as the applicability of different groups of indices of the absolute and relative concentration of pigments (chlorophylls, phaeo-pigments, and carotenoids) are presented. To differentiate water masses, these pigments have been assessed using the standard spectrophotometric method. It has been found that waters of individual river sections, singled out according to their hydrological features, and waters of different reservoirs on the whole can be reliably distinguished according to the concentration of pigments in the plant suspension.     

Erosion-control mechanism of sediment check dams on the Loess Plateau

Severe soil erosion occurs on the Loess Plateau in China, which makes the Yellow River the most sediment-laden river in the world. Construction of about 60,000 sediment check dams has remarkably controlled soil erosion on the Loess Plateau and reduced the sediment load of the middle and lower Yellow River. Nonetheless, little is known about the mechanism of erosion control and vegetation development of sediment check dams. The function of a single check dam mainly is trapping sediment, while the function of a train of check dams comprising dozens of or over hundreds of check dams in a gully encompasses controlling bed incision and reducing erosion energy. A formula was proposed to calculate the potential energy of bank failure and slope failure in a gully, which essentially constitutes the erosion energy. The erosion energy increases when gully incision occurs, which is induced by the incision of the Yellow River and its tributaries on the Loess Plateau. Sediment deposition in many gullies due to construction of check dams reduces the erosion energy to almost zero, which in turn greatly reduces soil erosion and sediment yield. Construction of check dams promotes vegetation development. The vegetation-erosion dynamics model was used to study the effect of check dams on vegetation development. Simulation results show that reforestation without check dam construction might result in an increase of vegetation cover in the first ten years and then a drop of vegetation cover to less than 10% in the later years. The check dams provide a foundation for vegetation development.     

Comparative application of two erosion models to a basin

Abstract

Two mathematical models were used to estimate the annual sediment yield resulting from rainfall and runoff at the outlet of the Nestos River basin (Toxotes, Thrace, Greece). The models were applied to that part of the Nestos River basin (838 km²) which lies downstream of three dams. Both models consist of three submodels: a simplified rainfall-runoff submodel, a physically-based surface erosion submodel and a sediment transport submodel for streams. The two models differ only in the surface erosion submodel: that of the first model is based on the relationships of Poesen (1985) for splash detachment and splash transport, while the corresponding submodel of the second model is based on the relationships of Schmidt (1992) for the momentum flux exerted by the droplets and the momentum flux exerted by the overland flow. The degree of conformity between the annual values of sediment yield at the basin outlet according to both models is satisfactory.     

SEDIMENT DAMAGES AND RECENT TRENDS IN THE UNITED STATES

lINTRODUCTIONWeoftenhavethepercepti0nthatsedimentisthebr0wnishoryell0wishcoloringinrunoffwater,thatlooksunpleasant,buteventually"g0esaway,"downstream,unseen.Butsedimentisn0tonlyaestheticallyunpleasant,itisalsoacarrierofpotentialchemicalc0ntaminants,fillsupwaterb0dies,andcausesphysicaldamaget0farmland,wildlife,andwatertreatmentsystemsandpowergenefat0rs.ThepurposeofthispaPeristoprovidean0verallperspectiveonthemagnitudeandtrendsofsedimelltasap0llutritintheUnitedStates.2CURRENTKNOWLEDG…     

Machine learning-based automatic construction of earthquake catalog for reservoir areas in multiple river basins of Guizhou province,China

Large reservoirs have the risk of reservoir induced seismicity. Accurately detecting and locating microseismic events are crucial when studying reservoir earthquakes. Automatic earthquake monitoring in reservoir areas is one of the effective measures for earthquake disaster prevention and mitigation. In this study, we first applied the automatic location workflow (named LOC-FLOW) to process 14-day continuous waveform data from several reservoir areas in different river basins of Guizhou province. Compared with the manual seismic catalog, the recall rate of seismic event detection using the workflow was 83.9%. Of the detected earthquakes, 88.9% had an onset time difference below 1 s, 81.8% has a deviation in epicenter location within 5 km, and 77.8% had a focal depth difference of less than 5 km, indicating that the workflow has good generalization capacity in reservoir areas. We further applied the workflow to retrospectively process continuous waveform data recorded from 2020 to the first half of 2021 in reservoir areas in multiple river basins of western Guizhou province and identified five times the number of seismic events obtained through manual processing. Compared with manual processing of seismic catalog, the completeness magnitude had decreased from 1.3 to 0.8, and a b-value of 1.25 was calculated for seismicity in western Guizhou province, consistent with the b-values obtained for the reservoir area in previous studies. Our results show that seismicity levels were relatively low around large reservoirs that were impounded over 15 years ago, and there is no significant correlation between the seismicity in these areas and reservoir impoundment. Seismicity patterns were notably different around two large reservoirs that were only impounded about 12 years ago, which may be explained by differences in reservoir storage capacity, the geologic and tectonic settings, hydrogeological characteristics, and active fault the reservoir areas. Prominent seismicity persisted around two large reservoirs that have been impounded for less than 10 years. These events were clustered and had relatively shallow focal depths. The impoundment of the Jiayan Reservoir had not officially begun during this study period, but earthquake location results suggested a high seismicity level in this reservoir area. Therefore, any seismicity in this reservoir area after the official impoundment deserves special attention.     

A one‐dimensional process‐based approach to study reservoir sediment dynamics during management operations

A comprehensive understanding of the dynamics of erosion and sedimentation in reservoirs under different management conditions is required to anticipate sedimentation issues and implement effective sediment management strategies. This paper describes a unique approach combining fluvial geomorphology tools and morphodynamic modeling for analyzing the sediment dynamics of an elongated hydropower reservoir subjected to management operations: the Génissiat Reservoir on the Rhône River. Functional sub‐reaches representative of the reservoir morphodynamics were delineated by adapting natural river segmentation methods to elongated reservoirs. The segmentation revealed the link between the spatial and temporal reservoir changes and the variability of longitudinal flow conditions during reservoir management operations. An innovative modeling strategy, incorporating the reservoir segmentation into two sediment transport codes, was implemented to simulate the dynamics of erosion and sedimentation at the reach scale during historic events. One code used a bedload approach, based on the Exner equation with a transport capacity formula, and the other used a suspended load approach based on the advection–dispersion equation. This strategy provided a fair quantification of the dynamics of erosion and sedimentation at the reach scale during different management operations. This study showed that the reservoir morphodynamics is controlled by bedload transport in upper reaches, graded suspended load transport of sand in middle reaches and suspended load transport of fine sediments in lower reaches. Eventually, it allowed a better understanding of the impact of dam management on sediment dynamics. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

三峡工程对鄱阳湖冲淤的影响和预测

泥沙淤积是制约湖泊功能的重要因素。三峡工程运行后增减下泄流量,将使鄱阳湖的泥沙交换和淤积作用发生变化。本文根据鄱阳湖的沉积特点,利用典型年的水文过程对库区增减下泄流量时的冲淤变化进行了预测,指出直接的影响不大,但洲滩发展和束狭入江断面的负效应须有所警惕。     

EFFECTS OF WATERSHED MANAGEMENT ON THE REDUCTION OF SEDIMENT AND RUNOFF IN THE JIALING RIVER,CHINA

The Three Gorges Project is one of the largest hydro-projects in the world and has drawn many debates inside China and abroad. The major concern is that sediment load from the river basin may eventually fail the functions of the project for flood control and power generation. To reduce sedimentation in the reservoir, watershed management has been adopted. However, there is limited information regarding the effectiveness of various control measures such as terracing and afforestation on a watershed scale. The Jialing River, a main tributary of the Yangtze River, contributes approximately 25% of the total sediment load in the main river but only represents 8% of the whole basin area. There have been various land use patterns and extensive human activities for thousands of years in the Jialing River watershed. Based on analysis of the major factors affecting erosion in the Jialing River watershed, the main watershed management strategies (afforestation, farming and engineering practice) are illustrated, and their effects on the reduction of sediment and runoff are studied in detail. The sediment budget of the watershed shows that 1/3 of the sediment yield is trapped by the erosion control measures (afforestation and farming) on the slope, 1/3 is trapped by the reservoirs, ponds and dams within the watershed, and only about 1/3 is transported into the Yangtze River, which will affect the Three Gorges Project.