Quantitative assessment of drivers of sediment load reduction in the Yangtze River basin, China

Peng, Tao; Tian, Hui; Singh, Vijay P.; Chen, Min; Ji, Liu; Ma, Hui; Wang, Jibao

doi:10.1016/j.jhydrol.2019.124242

Cited by 61 publications

(30 citation statements)

References 93 publications

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“…Vegetation communities have formed their tolerance ranges of water level fluctuations after long-term evolution processes. The recent drought trend, along with increased temperatures (Peng et al, 2020) and decreased precipitation (Tian et al, 2018), inevitably triggered…”

Section: Implications Of These Changesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Acceleration of vegetation dynamics in hydrologically connected wetlands caused by dam operation

Zheng

Wang

et al. 2021

Hydrological Processes

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The dynamic responses of wetlands to upstream water conservancy projects are becoming increasingly crucial for watershed management. Poyang Lake is a dynamic wetland system of critical ecological importance and connected with the Yangtze river. However, in the context of disturbed water regime in Poyang Lake resulting from human activities and climate change, the responses of vegetation dynamics to the Three Gorges Dam (TGD) have not been investigated. We addressed this knowledge gap by using daily water level data and Landsat images from 1987 to 2018. Landsat images were acquired between October and December to ensure similar phenological conditions. Object-oriented Artificial Neural Network Regression for wetland classification was developed based on abundant training and validation samples. Interactions between vegetation coverage and water regimes pre and post the operation of the TGD were compared using classification and regression trees and the random forest model. Since the implementation of the TGD in 2003, Poyang Lake has become drier, especially during the dry season. A more rapid plant growth rate was observed post TGD (44.74 km 2 year −1) compared to that of the entire study period (12.9 km 2 year −1). Average water level for the antecedent 20 days most significantly affected vegetation before 2003, whereas average water level for the antecedent 5 or 10 days was more important after 2003. The impoundment of the TGD after the flood season accelerated the drawdown processes of Poyang Lake, and the rapidly exposed wetlands accelerated vegetation expansion during the dry seasons, resulting in shrinkage and degradation of the lake area. This study deepens our knowledge of the influences of newly developed dams on lakes and rivers.

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Section: Implications Of These Changesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Acceleration of vegetation dynamics in hydrologically connected wetlands caused by dam operation

Zheng

Wang

et al. 2021

Hydrological Processes

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“…The decrease of sediment transport from rivers to the ocean and the consequent impacts on coastal ecosystems degradation, delta erosion and human social production activity have become a global topic in recent years. In river such as Yangtze (Chengjiang) 1,3 , Mississippi 4 , Ebro 5 and Yellow 6 , sediment load are below their pre-human level, the Nile 7 , Colorado 8 river is almost zero of present-day sediment discharge after construction of large reservoirs. The decrease in post-dam sediment transport is generally attributed to dam construction only 3,7 , but the driving factors such as the climate change, soil and water conservation measures (SWCM), river channel, floodplain, urbanization, road construction, sand dredging, and earthquakes etc.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…also play a role in the decline as discussed by various published research papers 9 . Therefore, it is critical to separate the driving factors and predict future changing trends of sediment load for developing reasonable plans of watershed management 1 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Decline of sediment transport due to damming and eco-engineering is approaching its limits

Wang

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Sediment transport from rivers to ocean is increasingly influenced by climate change and intensive human activities1, constituting a research priority of global relevance2. However, little attention has been paid to quantify and predict the contribution of driving factors to the sediment load. By integrating local-scale hydrologic modeling with soil erosion estimation model, and the soil erosion and sediment yield balance equation, we quantify watershed-scale changes in sediment load under forecasted climate change and human activities in the Yangtze River Basin (YRB), China. We also develop a new metric, the sediment load sensitivity index, that identifies sensitive to anthropogenic variability over the past 30 years. It was found that the reservoirs deposition was the primary factor (81.37 %) among human activities contributing to the decline in sediment load, followed by the soil and water conservation measures (SWCM) (18.63 %). The sediment load shows a slight increasing trend for the 1.5 °C and 2.0 °C global warming at 2020–2039 and 2040–2059, respectively. Climate change dominates the sediment load trend in the future due to the effectiveness of dams and reservoirs decreases and the saturation of the capacity of the SWCM to capture sediment. Although these findings indicate the importance of the impact of climate change on changes in sediment load, it is necessary to apply them to appropriate management to adapt to climate changes in future river basin management policies.

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“…Re search has found that an in crease in the amount of trans ported sus pended par ti cles is gen er ally in fluenced by fac tors lead ing to soil ero sion in the catch ment area, such as cli mate and the type of land cover (e.g., Wall ing and Webb, 1996;Sinha et al, 2020;Szaliñska et al, 2020). A close look at this ques tion shows that de spite de cades of re search, the pre cise fac tors in flu enc ing how sed i ment flux var ies in rivers, and which in ter con nec tions are sig nif i cant, re main unclear (Vercruysse et al, 2017;Peng et al, 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Stud ies of sus pended sed i ment trans port in rivers are compli cated be cause (Vercruysse et al, 2017;Skolasiñska and Nowak, 2018;Peng et al, 2020):…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A two-decade record of variations in suspended sediment in the Warta River, a lowland river in western Poland

Skolasińska

Nowak²,

Bradtke³

2020

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Fluctuations in suspended sediment concentration (SSC) has been investigated in the Warta River (western Poland), based on data obtained for the period 1961–1980 from three gauge stations located in upstream, middle-stream and downstream areas. Over the two decades, the SSC values demonstrated wide fluctuations and an overall increase at each gauge station. No significant correlation was generally observed between SSC and discharge but high SSC was found to follow low discharge and increasing temperature during the summer seasons in some years. Measurements of SSC and discharge were used to estimate total annual suspended sediment load (SSL). SSL values were found to increase downstream along with an increase in discharge. SSC decreases along the river course. However, when it comes to changes over time, SSL variability was mainly determined by SSC changes. The maximum SSC values were primarily caused by anthropogenic factors: the disposal of mine wastewater upstream, river training works, increased urbanisation and the intensification of sewage disposal. Where the river catchment has been greatly affected by anthropogenic factors, a denudation index calculated solely based on SSC and discharge does not appear to reflect the actual denudation rate, and must be treated with caution.

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Quantitative assessment of drivers of sediment load reduction in the Yangtze River basin, China

Cited by 61 publications

References 93 publications

Acceleration of vegetation dynamics in hydrologically connected wetlands caused by dam operation

Acceleration of vegetation dynamics in hydrologically connected wetlands caused by dam operation

Decline of sediment transport due to damming and eco-engineering is approaching its limits

A two-decade record of variations in suspended sediment in the Warta River, a lowland river in western Poland

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