Analysis of water and sediment characteristics in the main tributaries of the Yangtze River and their associated influence factors

doi:10.3969/j.issn.1000-5641.201841031

Abstract

Abstract: Water and sediment characteristics of Yalong River, Minjiang River, Jialing River, and Wujiang River are one of the defining aspects of variation in Yangtze River sediment; they have influence on the operation of the Three Gorges Reservoir, which is related to utilization of water resources in the Yangtze River Valley and equilibrium of the water ecosystem. This article is based on hydrological and sediment monitoring data from 2002—2016 of four important hydrological control stations set up in the main tributaries of the Yangtze River, which are Tongzilin, Gaochang, Beibei, and Wulong. Variation characteristics of hydrology and sediment parameters and their associated influence factors were studied systematically; correlations between hydrological and sediment parameters were subsequently analyzed by SPSS. The results showed that over time: the annual average sediment concentration, annual sediment load, and modulus of sediment transport of the tributaries of the Yangtze River decreased 22.57%~91.54%; the annual runoff of Yalong River, Minjiang River, and Wujiang River increased 3.28%~17.96%, but that of Jialing River decreased 1.58%; and the median size of sediment of the Jialing and Wujiang Rivers increased 50%~80%. Furthermore, cascade hydro power stations were built, which led to annual average sediment concentration, annual sediment load, median size of sediment, and modulus of sediment transport to decrease by 5%~79.34%. Natural disasters such us heavy rainfall, landslide, collapse, debris flow, dam-break, landslide under artificial conditions, and dumping earth rock into a river lead to annual average sediment concentration, annual sediment load, and modulus of sediment transport to increase by 20%~702.94%. Correlations between the parameters ranked from strong to weak are: annual average sediment concentration and annual sediment load/annual average sediment transport modulus, annual runoff and annual average sediment concentration, annual runoff and annual sediment load/annual average sediment transport modulus, annual average sediment concentration and median size of sediment, median size of sediment and annual sediment load/annual average sediment transport modulus, and annual runoff and median size of sediment. The research results will provide theoretical support for the planning and design of cascade hydropower stations in tributaries of the Yangtze River as well as operation of the Three Gorges Reservoir.

Key words: Yangtze tributaries, annual runoff, annual average sediment concentration, annual sediment load, modulus of sediment transport, median size of sediment

CLC Number:

TU443

WANG Zhengcheng, MAO Haitao, SHEN Jiwei, TANG Xin, CHEN Xiang. Analysis of water and sediment characteristics in the main tributaries of the Yangtze River and their associated influence factors[J]. Journal of East China Normal University(Natural Science), 2020, 2020(1): 126-138.

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