Operating Effects of the Three Gorges Reservoir on the Riverbed Stability in the Wuhan Reach of the Yangtze River

Abstract

Reservoir construction may modify the downstream flow and sediment transport, and correspondingly result in adjustments in morphodynamics of a river, especially riverbed instability. Based on hydrological datasets from 2003 to 2019 during the post-dam period using the topographic data of 57 fixed cross-sections in the Wuhan reach of the Yangtze River, we calculated the indexes representing the channel stability. Moreover, considering the effects of flow, sediment concentration, grain size of sediment, and water depth, we propose a method for calculating the equilibrium values of cumulative erosion and the lateral migrate intensity of thalweg in this paper, and the method combines with the delayed response model (DRM) to comprehensively analyze the variations in the longitudinal and lateral stabilities of the riverbed. The results revealed that the channel has been obviously eroded in the downstream reach, resulting in a 76% decrease in sediment discharge after the impoundment of the Three Gorges Reservoir (TGR). Specifically, in the past 17 years, the cumulative erosion in the Wuhan reach of the Yangtze River reached 1.72 m, while the bankfull depth increased by 1.87 m. The lateral migrate intensity of thalweg increased in response to Coriolis force, with an increase of 22.3%. Taken together, the results show that the proposed formula can effectively simulate the variation process of channel stability, and it also quantifies the extent of the influence weight of interannual flow and sediment regimes. The morphodynamics adjustments in the channel stability of our studied reach were closely related to the previous five-year flow and sediment regimes, implying that channel evolution may lag behind the changes in flow and sediment discharges.