Seasonal changes of sediment fluxes in the Yangtze River: Roles of precipitation change, human conservation measures in sub-basins, and large dams

Shitian Xu; Yuanfang Chai; Yao Yue; Xia Yan; Xiaofeng Zhang

doi:10.2166/nh.2021.157

Seasonal changes of sediment fluxes in the Yangtze River: Roles of precipitation change, human conservation measures in sub-basins, and large dams

Shitian Xu
, Yuanfang Chai
, Yao Yue^*
, Xia Yan
, Xiaofeng Zhang

^*Corresponding author for this work

Earth and Climate

Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

Seasonal sediment flux change is a key issue in riverbed evolution and flood control. This paper analyzed variations in sediment fluxes of the Yangtze River in dry and flood seasons during 1961-2014 and the impacts of precipitation change and human interference. Sediment fluxes in both dry and flood seasons decreased by 6.8-74.6 and 14.6-38.7%, respectively, based on daily sediment observations at six mainstream stations. However, precipitation increased sediment yields in both dry and flood seasons by 0.72-4.22 t/km² (3.5-17.8%) and 4.95-73.32 t/km² (1.9-25.5%), respectively, based on the reconstructed sediment series without anthropogenic interference. Therefore, sediment reduction due to human conservation measures and dam construction was up to 0.07-20.74 t/km² (0.9-64.6%) in dry seasons and 27.47-85.35 t/km² (6.5-23.7%) in flood seasons during 1980-2002, and further reduced 3.61-41.31 t/km² (46.0-102.9%) in dry seasons and 175.63-471.52 t/km² (59.6-126.2%) in flood seasons after the Three Gorges Reservoir (TGR) became operational in 2003. Contributions of human activities in six subregions to the reduction of the seaward sediment fluxes were calculated. Therein, the TGR only took up 3.2 and 23.9% in dry and flood seasons, respectively, which is below expectation.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	461-477
Number of pages	17
Journal	Hydrology Research
Volume	52
Issue number	2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.2166/nh.2021.157
Publication status	Published - 1 Apr 2021

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This work was supported by the National Key R&D Program of China (grant no. 2016YFA0600901) and the Youth Project of National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant no. 51609015). The hydrological data for this study were provided by the Bureau of Hydrology of the Changjiang Water Resources Commission and Yangtze River Waterway Bureau. Shitian Xu, Yuanfang Chai, and Yao, Yue conceived the study and wrote the draft of the manuscript. Xia Yan and Xiaofeng Zhang revised the manuscript and contributed valuable comments.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 IWA Publishing. All rights reserved.

Copyright:
Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.

Funding

This work was supported by the National Key R&D Program of China (grant no. 2016YFA0600901) and the Youth Project of National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant no. 51609015). The hydrological data for this study were provided by the Bureau of Hydrology of the Changjiang Water Resources Commission and Yangtze River Waterway Bureau. Shitian Xu, Yuanfang Chai, and Yao, Yue conceived the study and wrote the draft of the manuscript. Xia Yan and Xiaofeng Zhang revised the manuscript and contributed valuable comments.

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 14 Life Below Water

Keywords

Anthropogenic interference
Seasonal precipitation change
Seasonal runoff
Seasonal sediment fluxes
Yangtze River

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10.2166/nh.2021.157

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Cite this

@article{260e184cb15c475eb88532d62ab26475,

title = "Seasonal changes of sediment fluxes in the Yangtze River: Roles of precipitation change, human conservation measures in sub-basins, and large dams",

abstract = "Seasonal sediment flux change is a key issue in riverbed evolution and flood control. This paper analyzed variations in sediment fluxes of the Yangtze River in dry and flood seasons during 1961-2014 and the impacts of precipitation change and human interference. Sediment fluxes in both dry and flood seasons decreased by 6.8-74.6 and 14.6-38.7\%, respectively, based on daily sediment observations at six mainstream stations. However, precipitation increased sediment yields in both dry and flood seasons by 0.72-4.22 t/km2 (3.5-17.8\%) and 4.95-73.32 t/km2 (1.9-25.5\%), respectively, based on the reconstructed sediment series without anthropogenic interference. Therefore, sediment reduction due to human conservation measures and dam construction was up to 0.07-20.74 t/km2 (0.9-64.6\%) in dry seasons and 27.47-85.35 t/km2 (6.5-23.7\%) in flood seasons during 1980-2002, and further reduced 3.61-41.31 t/km2 (46.0-102.9\%) in dry seasons and 175.63-471.52 t/km2 (59.6-126.2\%) in flood seasons after the Three Gorges Reservoir (TGR) became operational in 2003. Contributions of human activities in six subregions to the reduction of the seaward sediment fluxes were calculated. Therein, the TGR only took up 3.2 and 23.9\% in dry and flood seasons, respectively, which is below expectation.",

keywords = "Anthropogenic interference, Seasonal precipitation change, Seasonal runoff, Seasonal sediment fluxes, Yangtze River",

author = "Shitian Xu and Yuanfang Chai and Yao Yue and Xia Yan and Xiaofeng Zhang",

note = "Funding Information: This work was supported by the National Key R\&D Program of China (grant no. 2016YFA0600901) and the Youth Project of National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant no. 51609015). The hydrological data for this study were provided by the Bureau of Hydrology of the Changjiang Water Resources Commission and Yangtze River Waterway Bureau. Shitian Xu, Yuanfang Chai, and Yao, Yue conceived the study and wrote the draft of the manuscript. Xia Yan and Xiaofeng Zhang revised the manuscript and contributed valuable comments. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2021 IWA Publishing. All rights reserved. Copyright: Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.",

year = "2021",

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doi = "10.2166/nh.2021.157",

language = "English",

volume = "52",

pages = "461--477",

journal = "Hydrology Research",

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T1 - Seasonal changes of sediment fluxes in the Yangtze River

T2 - Roles of precipitation change, human conservation measures in sub-basins, and large dams

AU - Xu, Shitian

AU - Chai, Yuanfang

AU - Yue, Yao

AU - Yan, Xia

AU - Zhang, Xiaofeng

N1 - Funding Information: This work was supported by the National Key R&D Program of China (grant no. 2016YFA0600901) and the Youth Project of National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant no. 51609015). The hydrological data for this study were provided by the Bureau of Hydrology of the Changjiang Water Resources Commission and Yangtze River Waterway Bureau. Shitian Xu, Yuanfang Chai, and Yao, Yue conceived the study and wrote the draft of the manuscript. Xia Yan and Xiaofeng Zhang revised the manuscript and contributed valuable comments. Publisher Copyright: © 2021 IWA Publishing. All rights reserved. Copyright: Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.

PY - 2021/4/1

Y1 - 2021/4/1

N2 - Seasonal sediment flux change is a key issue in riverbed evolution and flood control. This paper analyzed variations in sediment fluxes of the Yangtze River in dry and flood seasons during 1961-2014 and the impacts of precipitation change and human interference. Sediment fluxes in both dry and flood seasons decreased by 6.8-74.6 and 14.6-38.7%, respectively, based on daily sediment observations at six mainstream stations. However, precipitation increased sediment yields in both dry and flood seasons by 0.72-4.22 t/km2 (3.5-17.8%) and 4.95-73.32 t/km2 (1.9-25.5%), respectively, based on the reconstructed sediment series without anthropogenic interference. Therefore, sediment reduction due to human conservation measures and dam construction was up to 0.07-20.74 t/km2 (0.9-64.6%) in dry seasons and 27.47-85.35 t/km2 (6.5-23.7%) in flood seasons during 1980-2002, and further reduced 3.61-41.31 t/km2 (46.0-102.9%) in dry seasons and 175.63-471.52 t/km2 (59.6-126.2%) in flood seasons after the Three Gorges Reservoir (TGR) became operational in 2003. Contributions of human activities in six subregions to the reduction of the seaward sediment fluxes were calculated. Therein, the TGR only took up 3.2 and 23.9% in dry and flood seasons, respectively, which is below expectation.

AB - Seasonal sediment flux change is a key issue in riverbed evolution and flood control. This paper analyzed variations in sediment fluxes of the Yangtze River in dry and flood seasons during 1961-2014 and the impacts of precipitation change and human interference. Sediment fluxes in both dry and flood seasons decreased by 6.8-74.6 and 14.6-38.7%, respectively, based on daily sediment observations at six mainstream stations. However, precipitation increased sediment yields in both dry and flood seasons by 0.72-4.22 t/km2 (3.5-17.8%) and 4.95-73.32 t/km2 (1.9-25.5%), respectively, based on the reconstructed sediment series without anthropogenic interference. Therefore, sediment reduction due to human conservation measures and dam construction was up to 0.07-20.74 t/km2 (0.9-64.6%) in dry seasons and 27.47-85.35 t/km2 (6.5-23.7%) in flood seasons during 1980-2002, and further reduced 3.61-41.31 t/km2 (46.0-102.9%) in dry seasons and 175.63-471.52 t/km2 (59.6-126.2%) in flood seasons after the Three Gorges Reservoir (TGR) became operational in 2003. Contributions of human activities in six subregions to the reduction of the seaward sediment fluxes were calculated. Therein, the TGR only took up 3.2 and 23.9% in dry and flood seasons, respectively, which is below expectation.

KW - Anthropogenic interference

KW - Seasonal precipitation change

KW - Seasonal runoff

KW - Seasonal sediment fluxes

KW - Yangtze River

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UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85105725763#tab=citedBy

U2 - 10.2166/nh.2021.157

DO - 10.2166/nh.2021.157

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85105725763

SN - 1998-9563

VL - 52

SP - 461

EP - 477

JO - Hydrology Research

JF - Hydrology Research

IS - 2

ER -

Seasonal changes of sediment fluxes in the Yangtze River: Roles of precipitation change, human conservation measures in sub-basins, and large dams

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Funding

UN SDGs

Keywords

Access to Document

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