Long-term morphological response to dredging including cut-across-shoal in a tidal channel-shoal system

Abstract

This study examines long-term channel-shoal stability in the Tieshan Bay, which is located on the southwest coast of China. A large-scale channel-shoal system has historically existed in the outer Tieshan Bay. A navigation waterway is initiated by cutting and dredging a mid-channel shoal to supply coal to a power plant on the middle coast of the Tieshan Bay. Dredging of the access channel to the Tieshan Port was conducted in two stages followed by land reclamation. It is thus of practical meaning to explore how the channel-shoal system will evolve in long term afterwards. This study uses the process-based finite-volume coastal ocean model (FVCOM) to investigate long-term (centennial) morphological evolution of the channel-shoal system. After well calibration of hydrodynamics and sediment transport, the model forecasts morphodynamic evolution in hundred years. The simulations show that continuous erosion in tidal channels and accretion over shoals and intertidal flats occur. However, the cutting and access channels will be subjected to long-term siltation. A secondary channel indicating the reorientation of the access channel will emerge, and a localized channel-ridge system at the junction of the major channels will be formed. The overall erosion/accretion pattern demonstrates the combined effect of bottom friction and advective sediment transport processes to be responsible for the channel-shoal formation. Dredging of the tidal channels will stimulate the stability of the channel-shoal pattern. It suggests that the navigation waterway should be set up following the long-term morphological evolution of the channel-shoal system at a design stage and maintenance dredging volume might thus be minimized.