title: Impacts of Three Gorges Reservoir on the sedimentation regimes in the downstream-linked two largest Chinese freshwater lakes.
abstract: We studied the impacts of Three Gorges Reservoir (TGR) on the sedimentation regimes in the downstream-linked two largest Chinese freshwater lakes, Lake Dongting and Lake Poyang. Our results indicate that up to 1.73 × 109t sediment was retained in TGR from June 2003 to December 2014. This resulted in a 145.9 × 106t yr-1decline in the suspended sediment load at Zhicheng and a 16.8 × 106t yr-1lower sediment flow from Yangtze River to Lake Dongting, which partially explains the 13.4 × 106t yr-1lower sedimentation in Lake Dongting during the post-TGR period. Furthermore, TGR resulted in a 0.5 ± 0.3 m reduction of the multi-year mean water level at the Lake Poyang outlet Hukou, accelerating the suspended sediment export discharge from the lake. The reduced sedimentation in Lake Poyang during the post-TGR period was estimated to 6.3 × 106t yr-1. We estimate that a monthly mean concentration of sediment flow from TGR below 0.60 kg m-3will lead to erosion in Lake Dongting and Lake Poyang. Better regulation of TGR may extend the life expectancy of the two vanishing large lakes.
authors.affiliation: Taihu Laboratory for Lake Ecosystem Research, State Key Laboratory of Lake Science and Environment, Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China.|University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.|Sino-Danish Centre for Education and Research, Beijing 100190, China.
authors.forename: Yongqiang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Sino-Danish Centre for Education and Research, Beijing 100190, China.|Department of Bioscience and Arctic Research Centre, Aarhus University, DK-8600 Silkeborg, Denmark.
authors.forename: Erik
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Jeppesen
authors.affiliation: College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, Hunan Normal University, Changsha 410081, China.
authors.forename: Jingbao
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Taihu Laboratory for Lake Ecosystem Research, State Key Laboratory of Lake Science and Environment, Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China.
authors.forename: Yunlin
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, Hunan Normal University, Changsha 410081, China.
authors.forename: Xinping
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Hunan Hydro &Power Design Institute, Changsha 410007, China.
authors.forename: Xichun
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Li