Detection of the Three Gorges Dam influence on the Changjiang (Yangtze River) submerged delta.

ABSTRACT: While most large river-deltas in the world are facing the risk of subsidence and erosion in the Anthropocene, it is suspected that the Changjiang submerged delta (CSD) could be subjected to the impacts of the world's largest dam, the Three Gorges Dam (TGD). Here we firstly indicate that the CSD went through high accumulation (1958-1978); slight accumulation (1978-1997), slight erosion (1997-2002); and high accumulation (2002-2009), despite the 70% reduction of the sediment load from upstream since the operation of the TGD in 2003. Meanwhile, at the depocenter of the submerged delta, the accumulation maintained a high rate of 10 cm/yr during 1958-2009. This suggests on a longer term, the distal sediment source from the upstream had little effect on the CSD. Within this time frame the change

SUBMITTER: Dai Z 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5377575 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature