Abstract
Due to remarkable reduction of sediment supply, the vulnerability of Yellow River deltaic system increased and ecological impacts occurred to some extent. To have a comprehensive and quantitative understanding of the morphological evolution of deltas, surficial sediments of tidal flat along the abandoned southern Yellow River sub-delta and two adjacent coastal units were systematically collected and evaluated by grain-size analysis in the study. The results reveal that surficial sediments of the abandoned southern Yellow River sub-delta have been coarsening significantly since the 1980s, as characterized by a decrease in both the mud content and the clay/mud ratio. In particular, the transition from cohesive to non-cohesive sediment was completed between 2007 and 2013. With a sharp decrease in sediment flux from the Yellow River estuary, the flood currents from the submarine coastal slope carry few fine particles into the tidal zone, whereas the ebb currents with reverse direction remove some fine particles from the tidal flat. This is a major cause of sediment coarsening in the tidal flat. As sediment coarsening, the coastline of the abandoned southern Yellow River sub-delta has remained stable. The significant change in the grain size of the tidal flat surficial sediments may have a profound impact on the future coastal geomorphic evolution.
Highlights
Mega-deltas around the world, such as the Nile River, Mississippi River, Yangtze river, and Yellow River, has been under the threat of erosion and retreat, due to remarkable reduction of sediment supply as a function of climatic change and human activity
This is a major cause of sediment coarsening in the tidal flat and the decrease in clay content and clay/mud ratio
Surficial sediments of tidal flat along the abandoned southern Yellow River sub-delta and two adjacent coastal units were systematically collected and evaluated by grainsize analysis in order to have a comprehensive understanding of the morphological evolution of Yellow River delta
Summary
Mega-deltas around the world, such as the Nile River, Mississippi River, Yangtze river, and Yellow River, has been under the threat of erosion and retreat, due to remarkable reduction of sediment supply as a function of climatic change and human activity Many studies have been carried out on the response of the Yellow River delta to the decrease in sediment flux, especially the impact of coastal morphodynamics L. et al, 2011; Jiang et al, 2017, 2018), coastal erosion/accretion and coastline changes (Chu et al, 2006; Ma and Li, 2010; Cui and Li, 2011; Liu et al, 2013; Bi et al, 2014), and the retreat of the abandoned northern sub-delta (Wang et al, 2006)
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