Journal of Tropical Oceanography ›› 2020, Vol. 39 ›› Issue (6): 66-76.doi: 10.11978/2019137CSTR: 32234.14.2019137

• Marine Hydrology • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Effects of human intervention on tidal dynamics in the Modaomen Estuary, Pearl River

JIANG Chenjuan1(), ZHOU Jianan1, YANG Qingshu2,3,4   

  1. 1. College of Hydraulic Science and Engineering, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou 225127, China
    2. Institute of Estuarine and Coastal Research, School of Marine Engineering and Technology, Sun Yat-sen University, Zhuhai 519082, China
    3. State and Local Joint Engineering Laboratory of Estuarine Hydraulic Technology, Zhuhai 519082, China
    4. Guangdong Provincial Engineering Research Center of Coasts, Islands and Reefs, Zhuhai 519082, China
  • Received:2019-12-27 Revised:2020-04-30 Online:2020-10-10 Published:2020-05-07
  • Contact: JIANG Chenjuan E-mail:jiangchenjuan001@163.com
  • Supported by:
    National Key R&D Program of China(2016YFC0402601);Natural Science Foundation of China(41806104)

Abstract:

The Modaomen Estuary is the main outlet of the Xijiang River, where large-scale human intervention occurred since the 1980s, including sand excavation in the river network and estuarine regulation project, which inevitably caused the variation of tidal dynamics in the Modaomen Estuary. In this paper, we investigate the variation of tidal dynamics and its response to human intervention in recent 50 years by using statistical analysis and harmonic analysis on hydrological data, and hydrodynamic numerical simulation. The results reveal that the variation of tidal dynamics indicates a natural evolution trend of a river-dominated estuary, characterized by increase in tidal level and decrease in tidal range prior to the 1980s. However, after the 1980s sand excavation in the river network induced a decrease in tidal level and increase in tidal dynamics, while estuarine regulation project resulted in an increase in tidal level and decrease in tidal dynamics. In the inner estuary, tidal dynamics was more affected by sand excavation, with decrease in tidal level and increase in tidal dynamics. In the central estuary, tidal dynamics was affected by both sand excavation and estuarine regulation project, with increase in tidal level and decrease in tidal dynamics during the regulation project (1983-1993) but increase in tidal dynamics after the regulation project (1993-2003). In the outer estuary, tidal dynamics was co-affected by global sea-level rise and estuarine regulation project, with increase in tidal level and decrease in tidal dynamics.

Key words: tidal dynamics, sand excavation, regulation project, Modaomen Estuary

CLC Number: 

  • P731.23