Modeling the mass flux budgets of water and suspended sediments for the river network and estuary in the Pearl River Delta, China

Abstract

A coupled physical and sediment transport model was used to study the mass flux budgets of water and suspended sediments in the Pearl River Delta (PRD). The coupled model incorporates the Pearl River network, the Pearl River Estuary (PRE) and adjacent coastal waters in one overall modeling system. The results indicate that the river network and the PRE both have pronounced temporal and spatial variability in water and sediment fluxes, in hydrodynamic features and in sediment depositional patterns. In the river network, the riverine fluxes of water and suspended sediments are dominated by the West River, and those that are exported to the PRE (defined as the estuarine fluxes) are primarily contributed by Modaomen. The river outlets are highly responsive to the main tributaries in terms of water and sediment fluxes, revealing a close coupling between the upstream and the downstream boundaries. Most of the annual riverine and estuarine fluxes occur in the wet season, approximately 74% of the water flux and riverine and estuarine fluxes of suspended sediments of 94% and 87%, respectively. Although the water and sediment transport is dominated by river discharge, the tides are also an important factor, especially in regulating the structures of seasonal deposits in the river network (deposition in the wet season and erosion in the dry season). In the PRE, various types of physical forcing, including river discharge, monsoon winds, tides, coastal currents and the gravitational circulation associated with a density gradient, operate in concert to control the water and sediment transport in the estuary. Most of the oceanic fluxes of water and suspended sediments entering the South China Sea take place in the dry season and are primarily conveyed by strong western coastal currents. The PRE is a sedimentary system characterized by intricate depositional structures in space and time. Several depositional patterns and the associated driving mechanisms were identified. A fan-shaped deposition zone, the most intense deposition belt in the PRE, was found in the outer Modaomen Bay, where hypoxia has been reported. This work provides a basis for subsequent water quality applications in the PRD, including studies of hypoxia, eutrophication and maximum turbidity.