Long-term morphodynamic changes of a desert reach of the Yellow River following upstream large reservoirs' operation

China's Yellow River has experienced its dramatically decreasing trend for the flow discharge since the construction and operation of large reservoirs located upstream. This low flow regulation has triggered a severe aggradation of the Ulan Buh Desert channel of the Yellow River because the declining flow exhibits no capability to scour and carry away large amount input of desert sands from the Ulan Buh Desert. Twenty monitoring cross-sections documented the Ulan Buh Desert channel has experienced its increasing aggradational trend in conjunction with its lateral migration decreasing trend from 1966 to 2005, which is opposite to the normal pattern of aggradation with deepening or symmetrical infilling for a channel located downstream of a reservoir. The channel aggradation can also be identified two stages: slow aggradation and rapid aggradation. Slow aggradation is characterized by the channel bed elevation rising 9.5 cm on average between 1968 and 1985, which responded to the operation of the Liujiaxia reservoir. During this period, the flow discharge was similar to pre-dam flow conditions but the sediment transport reduced to half of its pre-dam value. Because of about 0.24 × 10⁸ t of desert sands entering the channel from the Ulan Buh Desert annually, this dilute flow indicated not to scour the channel as expected, but contrarily to cause the channel aggraded. Rapid aggradation followed completion of the Longyangxia reservoir with the channel bed elevation rising by 73 cm on average between 1986 and 2005. In this period, the combined regulation of Liujiaxia and Longyangxia reservoirs has caused the flow discharge decreasing dramatically, which is more beneficial for accumulation of the desert sands (0.19 × 10⁸ t yr^− 1 on average) in the desert channel, and led to the channel aggradation rate accelerated rapidly.     

三峡水库蓄水对库区孕震环境及潜在震源影响研究

三峡水库蓄水对库首区孕震环境影响有多大,是否需要对潜在震源的划分方案及现行地震危险性分析方法做出调整、改进,是一个亟待解决的问题。综合分析了三峡水库蓄水前后形变、重力等同步观测资料;论述了蓄水对库首区孕震环境与潜在震源可能的影响．并提出了一些研究设想。     

CHARACTERISTICS OF SEDIMENT TRANSPORT ALONG A RIVER REACH WITH A RESERVOIR

Based on long-term measurements at three gauging stations, Toudaoguai, Fugu and Hequ, and one meteorological station, this article discusses the features of discharge (Q) and sediment concentration (Cs) of a river reach of the Yellow River with a reservoir located in the Loess Plateau. The impacts of the local sub-watershed between Toudaoguai and Fugu gauging stations on sediment budget to the Yellow River have been analyzed. In addition, the deposition processes in the Tianqiao Reservoir have been investigated. Results show over 80% of the precipitation that falls in the local subwatershed is unable to contribute to the Yellow River runoff process. It is found that the annualmaximum sediment concentration is usually less than 30 kg/m^3 during flood seasons at Toudaoguai Gauging Station, but the sediment concentration varies dramatically at Fugu Gauging Station. About 35% of the sediment eroded in the sub-watersheds between Toudaoguai and Fugu gauging stationswas produced from the Huangfuchuan sub-watershed which has a drainage area accounting only for 10% of the drainage area between Toudaoguai and Fugu gauging stations. The Tianqiao Reservoir generally has deposition during the summer flood season, and scouring during the non-flood season.On average, over 85% of deposited sediment in the reservoir occurs in the 12 km long lower reservoir reach. The volume of annual deposition in the reservoir mainly depends on the volume of water from the local region between Hequ and Fugu gauging stations.     

THE OPERATION MODE OF "STORING THE CLEAR WATER AND DISCHARGING THE MUDDY FLOW" FOR RESERVOIRS BUILT ON HEAVILY SILT-LADEN RIVERS--A CASE STUDY OF THE SANMENXIA RESERVOIR

Observation of the operation of the Sanmenxia Reservoir on the Yellow River has led to the conclusion that to preserve a certain effective storage volume for reservoirs built on heavily silt-laden rivers is feasible if the reservoir is operated according to the principle known as "storing the clear water and discharging the muddy flow". The relative stability of the bed elevation at the end of the backwater and the reservoir's erosion and deposition equilibrium depend on the compatibility of the pool level maintained in non-flood seasons with the conditions of flow and sediment load during flood seasons. Operating the reservoir to regulate the flood and sediment load during flood seasons can reduce the rate of aggradation in the Lower Yellow River. The basic condition for applying the operation mode of "storing the clear water and discharging the muddy flow" is that a sufficient amount of water should be used for discharging sediment during flood seasons. Under the condition of extremely low flow years, reservoir sedimentation cannot be avoided even if this operation mode is adopted.     

Minor effect of beaver dams on stream dissolved organic carbon in the catchment of a German drinking water reservoir

Rising concentrations of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) are negatively affecting the water quality in several drinking water reservoirs. The presence of beaver dams can influence surface water quality on a catchment scale. In recent years, beavers have been re-introduced in numerous locations in Central Europe. We investigated whether the presence of beaver dams in the catchment of a German drinking water reservoir impacts DOC quantity and quality in the streams entering the Wehebach reservoir in Germany.By comparing water quality upstream and downstream of beaver dams during three low discharge situations we did not find a significant effect of dams both on DOC quantity and quality. The analysis of long term monitoring data at the gauges showed that beaver dams had a negligible effect on the DOC load to the reservoir. DOC quantity was closely linked to iron concentration in the streams. Co-precipitation with iron minerals was an effective process removing DOC from the stream-water. By analyzing fluorescence excitation emission indices we show that beaver dams did not have a clear effect on DOC quality. We conclude that the presence of beaver dams has only small effects on water quality and is not a problem for water quality in the downstream drinking water reservoir.     

Assessment of reservoir sedimentation effect on coastal erosion in the case of Nestos River,Greece

Coastal erosion that is generated by the reduction of the annual sediment yield at river outlets, due to the construction of reservoirs, constitutes one of the main environmental problems in many parts of the world. Nestos is one of the most important boundary rivers, flowing through Bulgaria and Greece, characterized by its great biodiversity. In the Greek part of the river, two reservoirs, the Thisavros Reservoir and the Platanovrysi Reservoir, have already been constructed and started operating in 1997 and 1999, respectively. The present paper constitutes the first attempt where the assessment of reservoir sedimentation effect on the coastal erosion for the case of the Nestos River delta and the adjacent shorelines is addressed in detail, through mathematical modeling, modem remote sensing techniques and field surveying. It is found that the construction and operation of the considered reservoirs have caused a dramatic decrease （about 83%） in the sediments supplied directly to the basin outlet and indirectly to the neighbouring coast and that this fact has almost inversed the erosion/accretion balance in the deltaic as well as the adjacent shorelines. Before the construction of the reservoirs, accretion predominated erosion by 25.36%, while just within five years after the construction of the reservoirs, erosion predominates accretion by 21.26%.     

Numerical analysis of synthetic granulate deposition in a physical model study

The current study focuses on the application of a three-dimensional numerical model for the prediction of morphological bed changes. The sediment deposition in a reservoir during a 10-year-flood was investigated and the results of the simulation were validated with data derived from a physical model study. Because of the small grain sizes in the prototype, synthetic granulate was used in the physical model. The numerical computation domain was a reproduction of the physical model, including the grain sizes and the density of the particles, in order to ensure comparability. The CFD code SSIIM, which solves the RANS-equations in three-dimensions, was used for the simulations. The sediment transport in SSIIM is divided into suspended sediment transport, computed by solving the convection-diffusion equation, and bed-load transport, calculated by an empirical formula. The results of the numerical simulation correspond well to the results of the physical model study. The simulated location and the pattern of the sediment deposition in the reservoir are an accurate representation of the observed distribution in the physical model.     

储层弹性与物性参数地震叠前同步反演的确定性优化方法

储层弹性与物性参数可直接应用于储层岩性预测和流体识别,是储层综合评价和油气藏精细描述的基本要素之一.现有的储层弹性与物性参数地震同步反演方法大都基于Gassmann方程,使用地震叠前数据,通过随机优化方法反演储层弹性与物性参数;或基于Wyllie方程,使用地震叠后数据,通过确定性优化方法反演储层弹性与物性参数.本文提出一种基于Gassmann方程、通过确定性优化方法开展储层弹性和物性参数地震叠前反演的方法,该方法利用Gassmann方程建立储层物性参数与叠前地震观测数据之间的联系,在贝叶斯反演框架下以储层弹性与物性参数的联合后验概率为目标函数,通过将目标函数的梯度用泰勒公式展开得到储层弹性与物性参数联合的方程组,其中储层弹性参数对物性参数的梯度用差分形式表示,最后通过共轭梯度算法迭代求解得到储层弹性与物性参数的最优解.理论试算与实际资料反演结果证明了方法的可行性.     

Water physicochemistry and benthic macroinvertebrate communities in a tropical reservoir: The role of water level fluctuations and water depth

Water level fluctuations due to reservoir operations often cause spatial and temporal differences in water chemistry, which in turn can have considerable biological effects. Nonetheless, few studies have investigated the effects of fluctuating water levels on water quality and benthic macroinvertebrates in reservoirs in tropical countries, and none in the Philippine archipelago. We investigated the littoral zone of a Philippine reservoir subject to strong water level fluctuations and determined whether (i) water quality and macroinvertebrate community health is reduced when water levels are low, (ii) water quality declines with increasing water depth regardless of the overall water level, and (iii) water quality and community health decrease more strongly with water depth during low water level periods. Our study included five sites and four depths at each site, with three collections each during high and low water levels. Low water levels may have negatively affected four water quality and 10 biological metrics, whereas depth may have negatively affected two water quality and five biological metrics. Significant overall water levels by depth interactions were detected for four common taxa but none for water physicochemistry. Our findings show that tropical reservoirs may experience reduced water quality at low water levels, which can affect their biodiversity and potentially their ecological functioning.     

Locating microseismic events using borehole data

Constraining microseismic hypocentres in and around hydrocarbon reservoirs and their overburdens is essential for the monitoring of deformation related to hydraulic fracturing, production and injection and the assessment of reservoir security for CO₂ and wastewater storage. Microseismic monitoring in hydrocarbon reservoirs can be achieved via a variety of surface and subsurface acquisition geometries. In this study we use data from a single, subsurface, vertical array of sensors. We test an existing technique that uses a 1D velocity model to constrain locations by minimizing differential S‐to‐P arrival times for individual sensors. We show that small errors in either arrival time picks or the velocity model can lead to large errors in depth, especially near velocity model discontinuities where events tend to cluster. To address this issue we develop two methods that use all available arrival times simultaneously in the inversion, thus maximizing the number of potential constraints from to N, where N is the number of phase picks. The first approach minimizes all available arrival time pairs whilst the second approach, the equal distance time (EDT) method defines the hypocentre as the point where the maximum number of arrival time surfaces intersect. We test and compare the new location procedures with locations using differential S‐to‐P times at each individual sensor on a microseismic data set recorded by a vertical array of sensors at the Ekofisk reservoir in the North Sea. Specifically, we test each procedure's sensitivity to perturbations in measured arrival times and the velocity model using Monte Carlo analysis. In general, location uncertainties increase with increasing raypath length. We show that errors in velocity model estimates are the most significant source of uncertainty in source location with these experiments. Our tests show that hypocentres determined by the new procedures are less sensitive to erroneous measurements and velocity model uncertainties thus reducing the potential for misinterpretation of the results.