Relationship between community type of wetland plants and site elevation on sandbars of the East Dongting Lake,China

Plant communities on sandbars were important, and restoration of degraded wetland were significant to biological conservation in the East Dongting Lake region. In this study, typical wetland community types on sandbars and their site elevation were surveyed to explore relationship between community distribution and site elevation. Results show that eight major communities in this region were wetland communities dominated by Juncus effusus, Carex brevicuspis, Polygonum hydropiper, Salix triandra, Oenanthe Javanica, Phalaris arundinacea, Miscanthus sacchariflorus and Phragmites communis respectively. These communities had obvious constructive species and companion species, while site elevation could affect community composition and their species diversity. On sandbars in the East Dongting Lake, vegetation was largely composed of hygrophytes companied with a few mesophytes. The higher the site elevation was, the nearer the site was to the water, and the lower community diversity became. Except soil humidity and site elevation, growth period of plants after inundation could also affect species richness in the communities.

Experimental research on unstable movements of sandbars under wave actions

This study is motivated by recognition of complex sandbar evolution patterns under wave actions inside the surf zone. A series of physical model experiments were conducted in a wave flume to investigate sandbar migration under various wave conditions, including wave groups, regular waves, and random waves. It was observed that under certain wave conditions sandbars move alternately shoreward and seaward rather than continuously in the same direction. The measurements show that the unstable movement of sandbars is closely related to the amplitude modulation of waves. Smaller amplitude modulation tends to produce more intense unstable bar movements. Data analysis further shows that the sandbar migration does not seem to be a passive response of the sea bed to wave forcing, but is most likely caused by the feedback interaction between waves and bed topography.

Immediately downstream effects of Three Gorges Dam on channel sandbars morphodynamics between Yichang-Chenglingji Reach of the Changjiang River, China

Sandbars are of vital ecological and environmental significance, which however, have been intensively influenced by human activities. Morphodynamic processes of sandbars along the Yichang-Chenglingji Reach of the Changjiang River, the channel immediately downstream of the Three Gorges Dam(TGD), are assessed based on remote sensing images between 2000 and 2016. It can be found that the entire area of sandbars reduces drastically by 19.23% from 149.04 km~2 in 2003 to 120.38 km~2 in 2016, accompanied with an increase in water surface width. Owing to differences in sediment grain size and anti-erosion capacity, sandbar area in the upstream sandy gravel reach(Yichang-Dabujie) and downstream sandy reach(Dabujie-Chenglingji) respectively decreases by 45.94%(from 20.79 km~2 to 11.24 km~2) and 14.93%(from 128.30 km~2 to 109.14 km~2). Furtherly, morphological evolutions of sandbars are affected by channel type: in straight-microbend channel, mid-channel sandbars exhibit downstream moving while maintaining the basic profile; in meandering channel, point sandbars show erosion and deposition in convex and concave bank respectively, with mid-channel sandbars distributing sporadically; in bending-branching channel, point sandbars experience erosion and move downstream while mid-channel sandbars show erosion in the head part along with retreating outline. We document that the primary mechanism of sandbars shrinkages along the Yichang-Chenglingji Reach can be attributed to TGD induced suspended sediment concentration decreasing and increasing in unsaturation of sediment carrying capacity. Additionally, channel type can affect the morphological evolution of sandbars. Along the Yichang-Chenglingji Reach, sandbars in straight-microbend channel are more affected by water flow than that in bending-branching channel.

The Application of Trenchless Piping in Sandbar Drainage Network Renovation Projects

In this study,the research progress of trenchless piping technology for pipes with a large diameter was reviewed.The geological conditions of the sandbar in Xiangyang were taken into account in this study.This paper highlights the construction process management of the pipeline network project in Yuliangzhou Starting Area of Xiangyang City.Research was carried out in the aspects of optimizing mud ratio,controlling pipeline elevations,pipeline welding,and trenchless pipeline construction in limited spaces,stable support during pit excavation,and controlling the spacing between the junctions of two pipe segments.The research resulted in excellent outcomes and ensured safe construction,and the quality requirements were also met.

Numerical Modeling of the Undertow Structure and Sandbar Migration in the Surfzone

A process-based 3D numerical model for surfzone hydrodynamics and beach evolution was established. Comparisons between the experimental data and model results proved that the model could effectively describe the hydrodynamics, sediment transport feature and sandbar migration process in the surfzone with satisfactory precision. A series of numerical simulations on the wave breaking and shoaling up to a barred beach were carried out based on the model system. Analyzed from the model results, the wave-induced current system in the surfzone consists of two major processes, which are the phase-averaged undertow caused by wave breaking and the net drift caused by both of the nonlinear wave motion and surface roller effect. When storm waves come to the barred beach, the strong offshore undertow along the beach suppresses the onshore net drift, making the initial sandbar migrate to the seaside. Under the condition of calm wave environment, both the undertow and net drift flow to the shoreline at the offshore side of the sandbar, and then push the initial sandbar to the shoreline. The consideration of surface roller has significant impact on the modeling results of the sandbar migration. As the roller transfer rate increases, the sandbar moves onshore especially under the storm wave condition.

Short-term morphological changes after sand-digging during a sand sculpture activity

Abstract The morphology of the beach backshore and foreshore at Huiquan Bay, Qingdao, China, is characterized by a single intertidal sandbar system with a spring tide range of 4.59 m. The beach was measured with a laser total station of Leica TPS402. Contours of the beach were generated using data collected in March and November 2005. The survey method provided 2 mm measuring accuracy and 4-10 m horizontal spacing. The net accretion volume of the foreshore was about 11,215 m3 from March to November. After sand sculpture activity, the axis of the sand trough migrated onshore from about 3.5 m to 17.5 m on the foreshore beach in November. At the same time, the axis of the sandbar crest migrated onshore no more than 42.25 m on the northwest foreshore; and it migrated offshore no more than 23.75 m on the southeast foreshore. On the northwest and southeast foreshore beach, two strips of erosion areas with a thickness of 0~）.2 m appeared on the sandbar crest. Accretion occurred at the bottom of the sand trough with a thickness of-0.2-0.6 m. The sandbar height decreased after sand sculpture activity, and it was no more than 0.7 m in March and 0.6 m in November. Human activities, such as sand digging on the sandbar crest during sand sculpture activity, also can disturb the beach morphology of intertidal bar systems. This phenomenon also was validated by comparison of beach morphology, the results of a color artificial tracer experiment and a sediment transportation trend prediction.

Sustained growth of the largest uninhabited alluvial island in the Changjiang Estuary under the drastic reduction of river discharged sediment

The evolution of the Changjiang Delta is obviously affected by current rapidly rising sea level and drastically declining river discharge,and it is also vital for the sustainable development of Shanghai and the Changjiang River Economic Belt,which represent China’s economic development leader and major national strategic area,respectively.In this paper,the growth pattern of Jiuduansha Island,the largest uninhabited alluvial island in the Changjiang Estuary,is studied in terms of the change in elevation,position and area over the past 50 years through using satellite-derived instantaneous shoreline positions and high/low tide exposure areas based on 497 satellite images from 1974 to 2020;and the influencing factors and future development patterns are further discussed by comparison with other alluvial islands or sandbars in the estuary.The results show that Jiuduansha Island has maintained a rapid or even accelerated area growth rate,although the sediment discharge of the Changjiang River has sharply decreased in recent decades.This sustained growth is mainly attributed to the existence of the estuarine turbidity maximum zone,coarsening fluvial sediment,onshore sediment replenishment by tide,cone-like geomorphology of Jiuduansha Island,and siltation promotion effect of vegetation.The growth rate of the low tide exposure area of Jiuduansha Island increased from 1.9 km^(2)a^(−1) in 1974–1990 to 3.0 km^(2)a^(−1) in 1990–2020,and the growth rate of the high tide exposure area reached as high as 3.7 km^(2)a^(−1) in 1994–2020.The implementation of the Deep-Water Channel Project has significantly affected the evolution of Jiuduansha Island,including shifting the heads of Shangsha and Zhongxiasha from severe retreat to rapid accretion,and promoting tidal flat progradation seaward of the Jiangyanansha and Zhongxiasha,but restricting the growth of the low tide exposure area of Jiuduansha Island.

Spatial and temporal correlation between beach and wave processes： implications for bar-berm sediment transition

Investigation of a beach and its wave condi-tions is highly requisite for understanding the physicalprocesses in a coast. This study composes spatial andtemporal correlation between beach and nearshore pro-cesses along the extensive sandy beach of Nagapattinamcoast, southeast peninsular India. The data collectionincludes beach profile, wave data, and intertidal sedimentsamples for 2 years from January 2011 to January 2013.The field data revealed significant variability in beach andwave morphology during the northeast （NE） and southwest（SW） monsoon. However, the beach has been stabilized bythe reworking of sediment distribution during the calmperiod. The changes in grain sorting and longshoresediment transport serve as a clear evidence of thesediment migration that persevered between foreshoreand nearshore regions. The Empirical Orthogonal Function（EOF） analysis and Canonical Correlation Analysis （CCA）were utilized to investigate the spatial and temporallinkages between beach and nearshore criterions. Theoutcome of the multivariate analysis unveiled that theseasonal variations in the wave climate tends to influencethe bar - berm sediment transition that is discerned in thecoast.

Numerical test of scale relations for modelling coastal sandbar migration and inspiration to physical model design

Physical model experiments on sandbar migration are widely conducted in the wave flume to reveal its hydro-sediment dynamic mechanisms.Selecting an appropriate scale relation is an important part of designing a laboratory experiment.However,evaluating the scale effect is complicated since it is impractical to design wave flume experiments based on strict geometry scales derived from the prototype beach or other laboratory beaches.Here,a process-based numerical model is used to test the Dean and Shields similitudes by comparing sandbar migration and sediment transport in different undistorted model scales using natural sediments.The numerical model provides excellent predictions for both offshore sandbar migration on a real-world beach and onshore sandbar migration in the wave flume.Consistent with previous studies,sandbar offshore migration and suspended sediment transport are similar when the Dean similitude is fulfilled.Sandbar onshore migration and bedload transport can be well reproduced only if the Shields similitude is achieved.Although previous laboratory experiments of sandbar migration generally used the Dean similitude,it is found that the Shields similitude is effective and indispensable for modelling sandbar onshore migration,which will be underestimated if the Dean similitude is only considered.Each scale relation cannot be used simultaneously for modelling both onshore and offshore sandbar migration in physical models.