Abstract
Human activities, such as tidal sluice gate construction and reclamation, are prevalent along northern coastline of China and influence significantly sedimentary environments. The Sheyang River estuary is a small estuary situated on the Jiangsu coast. For the objective of storing fresh water, maintaining river channel depth and managing the land resource, a tidal sluice gate was constructed. At the same time, estuarine wetlands have been reclaimed extremely in recent decades. A numerical model based upon Delft3D was developed to quantify the impact of these human activities, and four simulation schemes were designed (a) tidal sluice gate present, but always closed; (b) tidal sluice gate not present; (c) tidal sluice gate present, but closed during flood and open during the ebb; and (d) intertidal area reclamation taking place in the estuary. A bathymetric survey confirmed the erosion and deposition results of the simulation. The rate of sediment deposition increased significantly after the gate was closed. However, during the third scheme, the sediment deposition rate reduced considerably; that was because the ebb current increased the scouring force when the gate was open, especially within the channel area close to the gate. Meanwhile, reclamation lessened erosion behind the gates and may have been enhanced by siltation. The coastline shifted seaward as the siltation area increased; it extended farther because of reclamation. Appropriate coastal management planning strategies must be developed to reduce negative effects of the channel siltation, resulting from the various forms of human activity. The results of this study can provide input to governmental recommendations on more effective tidal gate management strategies.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Gong Z, Dou XP, Zhang CK (2010) Influence of tidal flat reclamation on channel sedimentation downstream of tidal sluice in Jiangsu coastal zone. Hydro Sci Eng 1: 73–77
HDHRB (Hydrological Data of the Huaihe River Basin) (2007) The Huaihe River area (Hongze River below). Published by Bureau of Hydrology of Ministry of Water Resources, PRC. vol. 5, Number 4
Hu SY (1987) On the changes in the Sheyang River Mouth and its bar. J Shanghai Marit Inst 3: 29–37
Hydraulics D (2006) Delft3D-FLOW user manual. Tech Rep Version 3:13
Li JL, Yang XP, Tong YQ (2007) Progress on environment effects of tidal flat reclamation. Prog Geogr 26(2): 43–51
Liao QL, Zhang XH, Li ZP, Pan GX, Smith P, Jin Y, Wu XM (2009) Increase in soil organic carbon stock over the last two decades in China’s Jiangsu Province. Glob Change Biol 15(4):861–875
Mao MH (2002) The research on the environmental change and land-intensive utilization at Xiaoshan reclaim region in the gulf of Hangzhou. Econ Geogr 22: 91–95
Milliman JD, Syvitski JPM (1992) Geomorphic/tectonic control of sediment discharge to the ocean: the importance of small mountainous rivers. J Geol 100:525–544
Mu JB, Huang SC, Lou HF (2012) Effects of the large-scale reclamation project on hydro-dynamic environment in the estuary. Appl Mech Mater 226:2317–2322
Toublanc F, Brenon I, Coulombier T, Le MO (2013) Salinity and suspended sediment dynamics in response to forcing changes in a small macrotidal estuary (Charente, France). In: Proceedings of the 7th International. Coastal Dynamics, pp 1707–1718
Trevethan M, Chanson H (2009) Turbulent mixing in a small estuary: detailed measurements. Estuar Coast Shelf S 81(2):191–200
Uncles RJ, Stephens JA, Harris C (2013) Towards predicting the influence of freshwater abstractions on the hydrodynamics and sediment transport of a small, strongly tidal estuary: the Devonshire Avon. Ocean Coast Manage 79:83–96
Wang HJ (2002) Scour and silting characteristics downstream of tidal barriers in muddy estuaries and their analytical forecast. China Ocean Eng 20(4): 78–84
Wang YP, Zhang R, Gao S (1999) Velocity variations in salt marsh creeks, Jiangsu China. J Coastal Res 15(2):471–477
Wang YP, Gao S, Jia JJ (2006) High-resolution data collection for analysis of sediment dynamic processes associated with combined current-wave action over intertidal flats. Chin Sci Bull 51(7):866–877
Wang YP, Gao S, Jia JJ, Thompson CEL, Gao JH, Yang Y (2012) Sediment transport over an accretional intertidal flat with influences of reclamation, Jiangsu coast, China. Mar Geol 291:147–161
Wolanski E, Moore K, Spagnol S, D’Adamo N, Pattiaratchi C (2001) Rapid, human-induced siltation of the macro-tidal Ord River estuary Western Australia. Estuar Coast Shelf S 53(5):717–732
Xing F, Wang YP, Wang HV (2012) Tidal hydrodynamics and fine-grained sediment transport on the radial sand ridge system in the southern Yellow Sea. Mar Geol 291–294:192–210
Zhang WY (2002) Siltation and its control in downstream tidal gates in North of Jiangsu province. J Sediment Res 1: 73–76
Zheng ZZ (1995) Preliminary study on countermeasures of culvert gate siltation in Jiangsu coastal areas. Jiangsu Water Technol 1: 48–52
Acknowledgments
Financial support for this study was provided by the Major State Basic Research Development Program (2013CB956502), Jiangsu Natural Science Foundation (BK2011012 and BK2012315), Natural Science Foundation of China (41376044 and 41206001) and the PAPD of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions. The authors thank Prof. Collins MB for his comments on an early version of the text. The reviewers are thanked for their critical and constructive comments on the original manuscript.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding authors
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
He, X., Wang, Y.P., Zhu, Q. et al. Simulation of sedimentary dynamics in a small-scale estuary: the role of human activities. Environ Earth Sci 74, 869–878 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-015-4100-9
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-015-4100-9