EVOLUTION OF RAPIDS OF CREEK MOUTH-BAR AT GEZHOUBA RESERVOIR AND THE IMPACTS ON NAVIGABLE CHANNEL IN THE UPPER REACHES OF THE CHANGJIANG RIVER

Key words: 
• Gezhouba Reservoir /
• pebble bed load /
• rapids of creek mouth-bar /
• navigable channels

Abstract: Almost at every mouth of the tributary creek of the Three Gorges inthe Gezhouba Reservoir, the alluvial fans or alluvial cones formed the rapids, whichare called rapids of creek mouth-bar. They are composed of pebble bed load with d>20 mm. Based upon geological and geomorphological investigations, the authors detect that the pebble bed load at the Gezhouba Re3ervoir comes from two sources, namely, the region mainly with limestone and The region mainly with pyrolith, andtheir converging area is within the Gezhouba Project. percentages of the pebble bedload are calculated. The calculated result stows that, 65% of pebble bed load comesfrom the region mainly with limestone, and 93% of the rapids of creek mouth-bar isdistributed in the region mainly with limestone. Considering the water level fluctuations, the rapids of creek mouth-bar can be divided into 3 types i. e. flood waterones, medium water ones and low water ones. Due to the rise of water level afterbuilding the Gezhouba Reservoir, the navigable channels in the area of rapids ofcreek mouth-bar within varied back water region are improved, taking up 50% of all12 rapids. But the rapids of creek mouth-bar in the tail region where the water levelrises less than 1 m, the conditions of navigable channels are little improved and evendeterioration, because of the continuous supply of pebble bed load. Therefore, thoserapids must be regulated before the completion of the Three Gorges Project.