Impacts of dams on the sediment flux of the Pearl River, southern China

Draining toward the South China Sea, the Pearl River is the third largest river in China. Based on datasets begun in the 1950s of water and sediment flux at the main gauging stations and measured deposition rates in some reservoirs, this paper examines the impact of dam construction on the sediment flux of the Pearl River. The results and conclusions are as follows: (1) The total storage capacity of reservoirs in the Pearl River basin had reached 65 km3 by 2005, which is 23% of the annual water discharge of the Pearl River. (2) The total deposition rate in the reservoirs has now probably reached 600 Mt/yr, one order of magnitude higher than the annual sediment flux into the sea (40 Mt/yr in 2000–2005). (3) The sediment flux of the Pearl River has shown a drastically decreasing trend since the mid-1980s, which is attributed mainly to deposition in the reservoirs. (4) A further decrease in sediment flux into the sea is expected to occur in the Pearl River in future decades because of the construction of new dams. This drastic decrease in sediment flux may be very import for the environments of the river channel, the estuary and the coastal areas, which need to paid considerable attention in scientific research and management.