《Effects of the Anthropogenic Activities on the Morphological Evolution of the Modaomen Estuary Pearl River Delta China》.pdfVIP

China Ocean Eng., Vol. 27, No. 6, pp. 795 – 808 © 2013 Chinese Ocean Engineering Society DOI 10.1007/s13344-013-0065-1, ISSN 0890-5487 Effects of the Anthropogenic Activities on the Morphological Evolution of the * Modaomen Estuary, Pearl River Delta, China a, 1 b a JIA Liang-wen (贾良文) , PAN Shun-qi (潘顺琪) and WU Chao-yu (吴超羽) a Coastal Ocean Research Center, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China b School of Engineering, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK (Received 30 July 2012; received revised form 27 January 2013; accepted 10 July 2013) ABSTRACT Owing to the intensive human activities, the Modaomen Estuary has been significantly modified since 1950s, which has resulted in considerable changes of hydrodynamics and morphodynamics in the area. In this paper, the effects of the anthropogenic activities on the hydrodynamics and morphological evolution in the estuary at different stages are systematically assessed based on the detailed bathymetric data and field survey. The results show that the human activities have caused the channelization of the enclosed sea area in the Modamen Estuary; fast seaward movement of the mouth bar with high siltation; expansion of the channel volume due to channel deepening. The paper also highlights the main hydrodynamic changes in the estuary, including the rise of the water level; the distinguishing changes of tidal range before and after the 1990s (decrease and increase respectively); as well as the increase of the divided flow ratio. It is