South Flank of the Yangtze Delta: Past, present, and future

Abstract

Chenier plain and mudflat development in the South Flank of the Yangtze Delta are examined by multi-disciplinary methods over different spatiotemporal scales and changing human-earth interactions. The study site contains a narrow belt of elongated ridge complexes that formed along the sediment-deficient open coast from 6500 to 4000yr BP. Since then and until the past two decades, shoreline progradation has accelerated due to increasing sediment supply, fueling rapid deltaic expansion. Superimposed on this trend are a series of discrete sand-dominated ridges deposited during several stormy intervals. Tidal flat development is regulated by complex estuarine processes. Short-term morphodynamic variations at the site are caused by the alternations of tides and waves, while intermediate morphodynamic variations are controlled by the multi-decadal shifting of river stem channel and stormy climates. The ongoing rapid accretion on the tidal flats is predicted to continue into the near future because the estuarine buffer effect is expected to balance the adverse impacts of decreasing riverine sediment discharge and rising sea level. Technological developments during the last ~2000years are exemplified by seawall construction against sea flooding, marking a transition from passive to active. Dike construction has been used more frequently and intensively to reclaim land since the 1970s, in support of the booming socioeconomic development in the region. Lessons from complex morphodynamic change and human-earth interactions in the Southern Yangtze Delta admonish us to not reclaim coastal wetland by lower-flat enclosures (constructing new dikes near the low waterline), while an optimal alternative would be to implement upper-flat enclosures (constructing new dikes around the high waterline) on the continuously accretionary tidal flats, with auxiliary biological restoration engineering, to satisfy both socioeconomic development and sustainable wetland conservancy.