Prediction of Topographic Change in the Estuary of Nakdong River and Analysis of Its Contribution by External Force Condition

Abstract

It is very important to understand the mechanism of estuary topographic changes for the study of estuary management and treatment methods. In this study, the effects from the land-side, such as rainfall, river discharge, sediment discharge, and sea side, such as tide, tidal current, wave and surface sediments related to the topographic changes of the Nakdong river estuary were investigated and analyzed. Based on the analyzed data, topographic modeling was performed to analyze the topographic change and contribution of external force conditions. As a result of numerical modeling, the topographic change showed that erosion that predominates in the water directly affected by the discharge of the estuary barrage. The deposition predominates in the indirectly affected tideland. As sediments moved along the water way being sorted and distributed by the wave, the deposition predominated in the front of the barrier island. Compared with the deposition dominance, which is the result of the topographic change prediction, the impact of each external force condition gives larger erosion. However, the combined impact of each external force condition showed deposition dominant. Therefore, the topographic changes of the Nakdong river estuary are considered to be the result of various complex external factors. The impacts of each external force condition show the different contribution to each comparison area. These results should be considered when establishing the estuary management method. It must be understood that this is the result of complex interactions.