Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Coarse and fine sediment transportation patterns and causes downstream of the Three Gorges Dam

  • Research Article
  • Published:
Frontiers of Earth Science Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Reservoir construction within a basin affects the process of water and sediment transport downstream of the dam. The Three Gorges Reservoir (TGR) affects the sediment transport downstream of the dam. The impoundment of the TGR reduced total downstream sediment. The sediment group d≤0.125 mm (fine particle) increased along the path, but the average was still below what existed before the reservoir impoundment. The sediments group d>0.125 mm (coarse particle) was recharged in the Yichang to Jianli reach, but showed a deposition trend downstream of Jianli. The coarse sediment in the Yichang to Jianli section in 2003 to 2007 was above the value before the TGR impoundment. However, the increase of both coarse and fine sediments in 2008 to 2014 was less than that in 2003 to 2007. The sediment retained in the dam is the major reason for the sediment reduction downstream. However, the retention in different river reaches is affected by riverbed coarsening, discharge, flow process, and conditions of lake functioning and recharging from the tributaries. The main conclusions derived from our study are as follows: 1) The riverbed in the Yichang to Shashi section was relatively coarse, thereby limiting the supply of fine and coarse sediments. The fine sediment supply was mainly controlled by TGR discharge, whereas the coarse sediment supply was controlled by the duration of high flow and its magnitude. 2) The supply of both coarse and fine sediments in the Shashi to Jianli section was controlled by the amount of total discharge. The sediment supply from the riverbed was higher in flood years than that in the dry years. The coarse sediment tended to deposit, and the deposition in the dry years was larger than that in the flood years. 3) The feeding of the fine sediment in the Luoshan to Hankou section was mainly from the riverbed. The supply in 2008 to 2014 was more than that in 2003 to 2007. Around 2010, the coarse sediments transited from depositing to scouring that was probably caused by the increased duration of high flow days. 4) Fine sediments appeared to be deposited in large amounts in the Hankou to Jiujiang section. The coarse sediment was fed by the riverbed scouring, and much more coarse sediments were recharged from the riverbed in the flood years than in the dry years. 5) In the Jiujiang to Datong section, the ratio of fine sediments from the Poyang Lake and that from the riverbed was 1: 2.82. The sediment from the riverbed scouring contributed more to the coarse sediment transportation. The contribution was mainly affected by the input by magnitude and duration of high flows.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Benn P C, Erskine W D (1994). Complex channel response to flow regulation: Cudgegong River below Windermere Dam, Australia. Appl Geogr, 14(2): 153–168

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chen F, Li Y T (2009). Analysis of the characters of erosion and deposition downstream from the reservoir. In: Zhang C K, Tang H W, eds. Advances in Water Resources and Hydraulic Engineering. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, 797–802

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Chen J G, Zhou W H, Yuan Y P (2002). Transportation and adjustment of different grain sized sediment along the lower Yellow River under typical operation modes of Sanmenxia reservoir. J Sediment Res, (2): 15–22 (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  • Dai Z J, Chu A, Stive M, Du J Z, Li J F (2011). Is the Three Gorges Dam the cause behind the extremely low suspended sediment discharge into the Yangtze (Changjiang) Estuary of 2006? Hydrol Sci J, 56(7): 1280–1288

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ge H, Zhu L L, Zhang X B (2011). Analysis of no uniform sediment recovery coefficient downstream from reservoir. Engineering Journal of Wuhan University, 44(6): 711–715 (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  • Guo X H, Li Y T, Qu G, Liu X Y (2014). Analysis of sediment transport in Middle Yangtze River after filling of the Three Gorges Reservoir. J Sediment Res, (5): 11–17 (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  • Han J Q (2015). The interaction mechanism between longitudinal water and sediment transport and channel morphology in the downstream of Three Gorges Reservoir. Dissertation for PhD. degree. Wuhan University (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  • Hydrology Bureau, Changjiang Water Resource Commission (HBCWRC) (2002). Analysis of river bed erosion downstream from Danjiangkou reservoir in period of retardation and period of water impoundment. Sediment Research of Three Gorge Project (Vol.7). Beijing: Intellectual Property Press, 75–82 (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  • Jiang L Z, Ban X, Wang X L, Cai X B (2014). Assessment of hydrologic alterations caused by the Three Gorges Dam in the middle and lower reaches of Yangtze River, China. Water, 6(5): 1419–1434

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Li Q F, Yu M X, Lu G B, Cai T, Bai X, Xia Z Q (2011). Impacts of the Gezhouba and Three Gorges Reservoirs on the sediment regime in the Yangtze River, China. J Hydrol (Amst), 403(3–4): 224–233

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Li Y T, Sun Z H, Deng J Y (2003). A study on riverbed erosion downstream from the Three Gorges Reservoir. Journal of Basic Science and Engineering, 11(3): 283–295 (in Chinese)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liu C, Sui J Y, He Y, Hirshfield F (2013). Changes in runoff and sediment load from major Chinese rivers to the Pacific Ocean over the period 1955–2010. Int J Sediment Res, 28(4): 486–495

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Luo X X, Yang S L, Zhang J (2012). The impact of the Three Gorges Dam on the downstream distribution and texture of sediments along the middle and lower Yangtze River (Changjiang) and its estuary and subsequent sediment dispersal in the East China Sea. Geomorphology, 179(1): 126–140

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wang H J, Yang Z S, Wang Y, Saito Y, Liu J P (2008). Reconstruction of sediment flux from the Changjiang (Yangtze River) to the sea since the 1860s. J Hydrol (Amst), 349(3–4): 318–332

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Xu J X, Hu C H, Chen J G (2009). Effect of suspended sediment grain size on channel sedimentation in the lower Yellow River and some implications. Science in China Series E: Technological Sciences, 52 (8): 2330–2339

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yang S L, Xu K H, Milliman J D, Yang H F, Wu C S (2015a). Decline of Yangtze River water and sediment discharge: impact from natural and anthropogenic changes. Sci Rep, 5(1): 12581

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yang Y P, Deng J Y, Zhang M J, Li Y T, Liu W L (2015b). The synchronicity and difference in the change of suspended sediment concentration in the Yangtze River Estuary. J Geogr Sci, 25(4): 399–416

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yang Y P, Li Y T, Sun Z H, Fan Y Y (2014). Suspended sediment load in the turbidity maximum zone at the Yangtze River Estuary: the trends and causes. J Geogr Sci, 24(1): 129–142

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yang Y P, Zhang M J, Li Y T, Zhang W (2015c). The variations of suspended sediment concentration in Yangtze River Estuary. J Hydrodynam, 27(6): 845–856

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yang Y P, Zhang M J, Li Y T, Zhang W, You X Y, Zhu L L, Wang D (2016). Suspended sediment recovery and bedsand compensation mechanisn sffected by the Three Gorges Project. Acta Geogr Sin, 71 (7): 1241–1254 (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhang W, Yang Y P, ZhangMJ, Li Y, Zhu L L, You X Y, Wang D, Xu J F (2017). Mechanisms of suspended sediment restoration and bed level compensation in downstream reaches of the Three Gorges Project (TGP). J Geogr Sci, 27(4): 463–480

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhao G S, Lu J Y, Visser P J (2015). Fluvial river regime in disturbed river systems: a case study of evolution of the Middle Yangtze River in Post-TGD (Three Gorges Dam), China. Journal of Geology & Geophysics, 4(6): 1–4

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhu L L, Ge H, Li Y, Zhang W (2015). Branching Channels in the Middle Yangtze River, China. Journal of Basic Science and Engineering, 23(2): 246–258 (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhu L L, Ge H, Zhang X B, Li Y T (2012). Preliminary study on responses of non-uniform sediment scouring and silting in the middle Yangtze to its inflows. Journal of Hydroelectric Engineering, 30(6): 215–221 (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (Nos. 2016YFC0402106 and 2016YFC0402301), State Key Laboratory of Hydraulic Engineering Simulation and Safety (Tianjin University) (No. HESS1719), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 51579123 and 51339001), Fundamental Research Funds for Central Welfare Research Institutes (Nos. TKS160103 and TKS140102), National Key Research & Development Programs (No. 2013BAB12B01), and Tianjin Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 15JCYBJC21900, 15JCQNJC07900, and 16YFXTSF00280).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Hydraulic Engineering Simulation and Safety, Tianjin University, Tianjin, 300072, China

    Songzhe Li & Yunping Yang

  2. Key Laboratory of Engineering Sediment, Tianjin Research Institute for Water Transport Engineering, Ministry of Transport, Tianjin, 300456, China

    Yunping Yang & Mingjin Zhang

  3. State Key Laboratory of Water Resources and Hydropower Engineering Science, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430072, China

    Zhaohua Sun

  4. Bureau of Hydrology, Changjiang Water Resources Commission, Wuhan, 430010, China

    Lingling Zhu

  5. Hubei Provincial Water Resources and Hydropower Planning Survey and Design Institute, Wuhan, 430064, China

    Xingying You

  6. Changjiang Waterway Bureau, Wuhan, 430010, China

    Kanyu Li

Authors
  1. Songzhe Li
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Yunping Yang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Mingjin Zhang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Zhaohua Sun
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Lingling Zhu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Xingying You
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Kanyu Li
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yunping Yang.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Li, S., Yang, Y., Zhang, M. et al. Coarse and fine sediment transportation patterns and causes downstream of the Three Gorges Dam. Front. Earth Sci. 12, 750–764 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11707-017-0670-z

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11707-017-0670-z

Keywords

Search

Navigation