Abstract
Abstract. The Minjiang River is the largest river in Fujian Province. In 1993, the Shuikou Reservoir, which has an effective storage capacity of 700 million m3, was built at about 161 km above the estuary. The completion of the Shuikou Dam trapped most of the upstream sediment in the reservoir area, resulting in a drastic decrease in sediment in the lower reaches of the Minjiang River. The average annual sand load at the Zhuqi Station (about 45 km below the dam) was reduced about 2∕3 after the construction of the reservoir, from 7.42 to 2.55 million t by average, resulting in severe river bed downward cutting. At the same time, the demand for the sand in Minjiang River channel is increasing year by year. The amount of mined river sand is greater than the incoming sediment deposited in the river, which intensified the downcutting of the river bed. The downcutting leads to a continuous upward movement of the tide limit in the river channel especially in the low-flow season. Meanwhile, river embankments and river-related structures are damaged, and the navigation capacity of the Minjiang River is reduced. At present, the river bed of the lower Minjiang River is not yet stable, and the river regime is in a state of constant adjustment.
Highlights
The Minjiang River is the largest river in Fujian Province, and 8 large reservoirs with capacity over 100 million m3 were built in the basin over the last 60 years
The Minjiang River flows into the east China sea, with a total length of 541 km and a total drainage area of 60 992 km2
From October to March of the following year, it is the dry season, and the average annual runoff reaches the minimum in January
Summary
The Minjiang River is the largest river in Fujian Province, and 8 large reservoirs with capacity over 100 million m3 were built in the basin over the last 60 years. Shuikou Reservoir is the largest one, with a total capacity of 2.6 billion m3, which controlled 86 % of the drainage area. It will result in changes of downstream river flow regimes, riverbed scouring and river bank erosion, causing problems such as salt tide intrusion, river bank and bridge damage (Magilligan and Nislow, 2005). After the completion of Shuikou Dam in 1993, the river channel in the lower reaches of the Minjiang River was continuously eroded, and the salt tide kept moving upward (Huang, 2010). We will investigate the downstream hydrological alteration and river channel evolution of the Minjiang River after the construction of Shuikou Reservoir, and the related impacts on the lower reaches
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