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Morphological evolution of a large sand bar in the Qiantang River Estuary of China since the 1960s

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Abstract

A large sand bar develops in the inner Qiantang River Estuary, China. It is a unique sedimentary system, elongating landwards by about 130 km. Based on long-term series of bathymetric data in each April, July, and November since the 1960s, this study investigated the morphological behavior of this bar under natural conditions and the influence of a large-scale river narrowing project (LRNP) implemented in the last decades. The results show that three timescales, namely the seasonal, interannual and decadal timescales, can be distinguished for the sand bar evolution. The first two are related to the seasonal and interannual variations of river discharge. During high discharge seasons or years, erosion took place at the upper reach and sedimentation at the lower reach. Consequently, the bar apex shifted seaward. The opposite development took place during low discharge seasons or years. The decadal timescale is related to LRNP. Due to the implementation of LRNP, the upper reach has experienced apparent erosion and currently a new equilibrium state has been reached; whereas the lower reach has been accumulated seriously and the accumulation still continues. Nonlinear relationships for how the bar apex location and elevation depend on the river discharge over various stages of LRNP have been established. Compared with the earlier stage of LRNP, the bar apex at present has shifted seaward by about 12 km and lowered by about 1 m. The sand bar movement has significant feedback on the hydrographic conditions along the estuary and has practical implications for coastal management.

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Funding

The National Natural Science Foundation of China under contract Nos 41676085 and 42176170; the Zhejiang Provincial Hydraulic Science and Technology Planning Project under contract No. RB2033; the Zhejiang Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China under contract No. LY16D060004.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Ocean College, Zhejiang University, Zhoushan, 316021, China

    Junbao Huang & Zhilin Sun

  2. Zhejiang Institute of Hydraulics and Estuary, Hangzhou, 310020, China

    Junbao Huang & Dongfeng Xie

  3. College of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310058, China

    Zhilin Sun

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  1. Junbao Huang
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  2. Zhilin Sun
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Correspondence to Junbao Huang.

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Huang, J., Sun, Z. & Xie, D. Morphological evolution of a large sand bar in the Qiantang River Estuary of China since the 1960s. Acta Oceanol. Sin. 41, 156–165 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13131-021-1817-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13131-021-1817-z

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