Can Reservoir Regulation Along the Yellow River Be a Sustainable Way to Save a Sinking Delta?

Wu，Xiao1,2; Bi，Naishuang1,2; Syvitski，Jaia3; Saito，Yoshiki4,5; Xu，Jingping2,6; Nittrouer，Jeffrey A.7; Bianchi，Thomas S.8; Yang，Zuosheng1; Wang，Houjie1,2

2020-11-01

10.1029/2020EF001587

Earths Future   影响因子和分区

2328-4277

2328-4277

Today's deltas are impacted negatively by (1) accelerated subsidence (e.g., from ground fluid extraction), (2) global eustatic sea level rise, and (3) decreased sediment supply, which increasingly starves these landforms of sediment necessary to sustain their footprint. This growing vulnerability threatens many megacities that have developed due to the rich resources offered by deltas and therefore urgently calls for efforts to maintain sustainability. The Yellow River of China is classic example of such a landform under threat and which requires human intervention to maintain its resilience. Since 2002, the Yellow River Conservancy Commission has enacted an annual water and sediment regulation scheme (WSRS) by coordinated operation of three large reservoirs in the mainstream. Here we evaluate the efficiency and sustainability of this man-made experiment on delta evolution. The impulsive delivery of muds and sands, within ~20 day intervals (averaged duration of the WSRS), did indeed move the present Yellow River delta from a destructive phase to an accretion phase. With continuous scouring, however, the downstream riverbed erosion efficiency has decreased, due to coarsening of surface bed material sediment. Concomitantly, sediment delivery has decreased, resulting in the present delta once again entering an erosive (destructive) phase, since 2014. From a perspective of delta restoration, the WSRS on the Yellow River is effective but potentially unsustainable. Restoring delta resilience necessitates an enhanced, coordinated effort, relying upon new sciences advances, rather than simply assuming channel scour will address the sediment deficit of the delta.

delta evolution global change human impact reservoir regulation the Yellow River

SCI

英语

其他

Ministry of Science and Technology of China[2016YFA0600903] ; National Natural Science Foundation of China[41806101][41525021][41530966][U1606401] ; Taishan Scholar Project of Shandong Province[TS20190913]

Environmental Sciences & Ecology ; Geology ; Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences

Environmental Sciences ; Geosciences, Multidisciplinary ; Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences

WOS:000595878400010

AMER GEOPHYSICAL UNION

2-s2.0-85096439941

Scopus

1.College of Marine Geosciences,Key Laboratory of Submarine Geosciences and Prospecting Technology,Ocean University of China,Qingdao,China
2.Laboratory for Marine Geology,Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology,Qingdao,China
3.Community Surface Dynamics Modeling System,INSTAAR,University of Colorado,Boulder,United States
4.Estuary Research Center,Shimane University,Matsue,Japan
5.Geological Survey of Japan,National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology,Tsukuba,Japan
6.Department of Ocean Science and Engineering,Southern University of Science and Technology,Shenzhen,China
7.Department of Earth,Environmental,and Planetary Sciences,Rice University,Houston,United States
8.Department of Geological Sciences,University of Florida,Gainesville,United States

Wu，Xiao,Bi，Naishuang,Syvitski，Jaia,et al. Can Reservoir Regulation Along the Yellow River Be a Sustainable Way to Save a Sinking Delta?[J]. Earths Future,2020,8(11).

Wu，Xiao.,Bi，Naishuang.,Syvitski，Jaia.,Saito，Yoshiki.,Xu，Jingping.,...&Wang，Houjie.(2020).Can Reservoir Regulation Along the Yellow River Be a Sustainable Way to Save a Sinking Delta?.Earths Future,8(11).

Wu，Xiao,et al."Can Reservoir Regulation Along the Yellow River Be a Sustainable Way to Save a Sinking Delta?".Earths Future 8.11(2020).