Sediment variability and transport in the littoral area of the abandoned Yellow River Delta, northern Jiangsu

Abstract

The delta evolution and erosion process of the abandoned Yellow River Delta (AYRD) have been extensively studied. However, the variation of sediment at a large littoral scale along the north coast of Jiangsu is less understood. In this study, the data of surface sediment samples obtained in the littoral area of the Yellow River Delta in 2006 and 2012 is used to study the sediment variability and sediment transport trends by using the geostatistics analysis tool and the grain size trend analysis model. In order to ensure the applicability of the model, the geostatistics method is used to determine the characteristic distance (D c) with the average range value (Ao) of grain size parameter. Filtering method (removing data that not at a sampling station) is used to improve accuracy of data selection. The results show that sedimentary spatial correlation in Lianyun Port area and southern part of the abandoned Yellow River Delta (AS) is better than that in the northern part of the abandoned Yellow River Delta (AN). Sediment in the area is found to be anisotropy at the northeast-southeast direction. The grain size trend analysis reveals that the sediment trend is towards bayhead and southerly in the Haizhou Bay, southeasterly along the shoreline in the south Lianyun Port, northwesterly in AN and easterly-southeasterly in AS respectively. The investigation of possible relationships between D c , Ao, sediment transport and delta evolution shows a close link between D c and Ao of one sediment combination. It is also found that sediment transport trends could reasonably represent the delta evolution to a certain degree.

A 5000-Year Sedimentary Record of East Asian Winter Monsoon from the Northern Muddy Area of the East China Sea

“…As shown, prior to 2000 y BP, the most dynamic sedimentary process recorded in core ECS-DZ1 did not follow changes in the dominant sedimentary components or dynamics, while after 2000 yr BP, these two parameters were coupled (Figure 3b). For suspended and sea-surface sediments around the Huanghe River mouth [36] and the mud area of the Bohai Sea [12], a good positive correlation between C and Md values was observed, similarly with ones of core Lz908 [37], and ones in the abandoned Huanghe River mouth in the west of the South Yellow Sea [38]. This relationship was consistent in the one of six surface sediments (Figure 3).…”

Evolution Modeling and Protection Scheme for Tidal Flats Under Natural Change and Human Pressure, Central Jiangsu Coast

“…This closely aligns with the observed mean of 60 m/yr during the same period (Gao, 2009) (Figure 3b). Historical observational data reveals the highest coastline growth rate was 90 m/yr in 1127–1327 (Liu et al., 2011), and the average was 50 m/yr in 1855–1984 (R. Zhang, 1984). Model outputs for these periods indicate coastline growth rates of 77 m/yr and 48 m/yr (Figure 3b), respectively, closely resembling the observed values.…”

“… Characteristics of the study area: (a) the historical diversion of the Yellow River: among them, we focus on the migration of the Yellow River from Jiangsu into the Yellow Sea during 1128–1855 and the northward migration into the Bohai Sea after 1855 (marked by thin white lines with arrows in the figure), which had a great impact on the sediment supply in the study area; the thick yellow lines with arrows refer to the Yellow Sea Coast Current, also suggesting the direction of sediment transport; (b) the variability of the Jiangsu coastline, the marine environment, and the current pattern of accretion‐erosion along the Jiangsu coast (R. Zhang, 1984); Y1, Y2, and Y3 are the boreholes at Dongtai, Xincao, and Dunmenkou, respectively, representing the locations of the cores in our collection (Li et al., 2001). …”

“…During the period when the Yellow River discharged into the southern Yellow Sea (1128-1855), rapid sedimentation on tidal flats led to the formation of a coastal plain extending nearly 50 km beyond the sea dyke in the study area, reflecting the shoreline position before 1127 (R. Zhang, 1984) (Figure 2b). Understanding this historical development is essential for validating our model.…”

Using a Sensitivity Analysis and Spatial Clustering to Determine Vulnerability to Potentially Toxic Elements in a Semiarid City in Northwest Mexico

“…where h is a vector of two separate sampling sites (also called the step length), z(x i ) is equal to the value of the PTEs at location x i , z(x i + h) is equal to the value at location x i + h, γ(h) is equal to the variogram for the distance h between values z(x i ) and z(x i + h), and n(h) is equal to the number of pairs of values separated by h [53,56]. The variograms were fitted to the linear, exponential, gaussian, or spherical models depending on the characteristics of each dataset.…”