Application of Fractal Theory in the River Regime in the Lower Yellow River

Abstract

From 1960 to 1999, the river regime in the Lower Yellow River had been the wandering. After the operation of Xiaolangdi Reservoir, the river regime in the Lower Yellow River has experienced some changes because of the reduced discharge and sediment loads. According to the river regime maps, the wandering features of the Lower Yellow River are inhibited and the river channel is becoming stable. In addition, the fractal dimension method is introduced to discriminate the river regime. The river fractal features are able to reflect the features of river system and the fractal dimension is an important variable that can reflect the fractal features. Based on the basic principle of fractal theory, the fractal dimension method is applied to discriminate the river pattern evolution of the Lower Yellow River. The results show that all the fractal dimensions of the three studied reaches decrease from 1-1.35 before 2004 to less 1.05 after 2004, indicating that the river regimes are becoming more regular. It means that the discrimination results fit well with the facts and the fractal dimension method is suitable for the river pattern discrimination.