Changes of Water stage in the middle Yangtze River influenced by human activities in the past 70 years

doi:10.1007/s11707-020-0855-8

Front. Earth Sci.

2021, Vol. 15

Issue (1) : 121-132 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11707-020-0855-8

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Changes of Water stage in the middle Yangtze River influenced by human activities in the past 70 years

Jianqiao HAN^1,², Yao WANG^2,³, Zhaohua SUN¹(

)

¹. State Key Laboratory of Water Resources and Hydropower Engineering Science, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China
². Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, China
³. College of Water Conservancy and Hydropower Engineering, Hohai University, Nanjing 213022, China

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Abstract

Water stages play a critical role on flood control, water supply, navigation, and ecology in rivers. Investigation of water stages provides better understanding of riverbed evolution processes and river management. Based on the hydrological observation in past 70 years, the changes of low-flow and flood stages were investigated by a combination of Mann-Kendall test, moving t-test, and wavelet analysis. 1) In accordance with the location, the middle Yangtze River was divided into upper reach, middle reach, and lower reach. Water stages in the upper reach show a decreasing trend, while that in the middle reach present an increasing trend, and the lower reach are mainly dominated by natural evolution. 2) The mutation year of water stages in the upper reach was around 1985, indicating that the Gezhouba Dam facilitated the reduction of water stages. The trend mutation in the middle reach was in 1969, which was consistent with the implementation of Jingjiang Cutoff. 3) Human activities aggravated the change of water stages, leading the primary period of water stage time series to exceed 20 years. 4) In the upper reach, the reductions of water stages were attributed to the riverbed erosion induced by human activities. While in the middle reach, the recent falling effects of riverbed erosion can hardly offset the rising effects of the channel resistance on water stages. 5) In the future, the increasing trend in the middle reach may be arrested due to the riverbed erosion induced by the Three Gorges Dam. Long-term observation of the flood stage must be conducted in the middle Yangtze River.

Keywords flood stage low-flow stage human activity Yangtze River

Corresponding Author(s): Zhaohua SUN

Online First Date: 01 April 2021 Issue Date: 19 April 2021

Cite this article:

Jianqiao HAN,Yao WANG,Zhaohua SUN. Changes of Water stage in the middle Yangtze River influenced by human activities in the past 70 years[J]. Front. Earth Sci., 2021, 15(1): 121-132.

URL:

https://academic.hep.com.cn/fesci/EN/10.1007/s11707-020-0855-8
https://academic.hep.com.cn/fesci/EN/Y2021/V15/I1/121

Fig.1 Sketch of the middle Yangtze River.

Fig.2 The schematic diagram of calculating stage-flow regression residuals

Fig.3 Changes in low-flow and flood stages at Yichang station.

Fig.4 Wavelet variance charts for the five stations in the middle Yangtze River.

Fig.5 Changes in low-flow and flood stages at Zhicheng station.

Fig.6 Changes in low-flow and flood stages at Shashi station.

Fig.7 Changes in the low-flow and flood stages at Luoshan station.

Fig.8 Changes in the low-flow and flood stages at Hankou station.

Tab.1 Characteristics of water stage changes in the middle Yangtze River

Fig.9 Erosion intensity of the riverbed in the middle Yangtze River ( - erosion; + deposition).

Fig.10 Typical cross-sectional profiles after the operation of Three Gorges Reservoir. Location of typical transect is shown as (A) in Fig. 1.

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