A review of the impacts of dams on the hydromorphology of tropical rivers.

Autor: Chong XY; School of Environmental and Geographical Sciences, University of Nottingham Malaysia, Malaysia. Electronic address: khyy5cxy@nottingham.edu.my., Vericat D; Fluvial Dynamics Research Group, University of Lleida, E25198 Lleida, Catalonia, Spain; Forest Science and Technology Centre of Catalonia, E25280 Solsona, Catalonia, Spain. Electronic address: damia.vericat@udl.cat., Batalla RJ; Fluvial Dynamics Research Group, University of Lleida, E25198 Lleida, Catalonia, Spain; Catalan Institute for Water Research, E17100 Girona, Catalonia, Spain; Austral University of Chile, Valdivia, Chile. Electronic address: ramon.batalla@udl.cat., Teo FY; Department of Civil Engineering, University of Nottingham Malaysia, Malaysia. Electronic address: fangyenn.teo@nottingham.edu.my., Lee KSP; Sarawak Energy Berhad, Malaysia. Electronic address: Karen.Lee@sarawakenergy.com., Gibbins CN; School of Environmental and Geographical Sciences, University of Nottingham Malaysia, Malaysia. Electronic address: christopher.gibbins@nottingham.edu.my.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: The Science of the total environment [Sci Total Environ] 2021 Nov 10; Vol. 794, pp. 148686. Date of Electronic Publication: 2021 Jun 25.
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.148686
Abstrakt: A major programme of dam building is underway in many of the world's tropical countries. This raises the question of whether existing research is sufficient to fully understand the impacts of dams on tropical river systems. This paper provides a systematic review of what is known about the impacts of dams on river flows, sediment dynamics and geomorphic processes in tropical rivers. The review was conducted using the SCOPUS® and Web of Science® databases, with papers analysed to look for temporal and geographic patterns in published work, assess the approaches used to help understand dam impacts, and assess the nature and magnitude of impacts on the flow regimes and geomorphology ('hydromorphology') of tropical rivers. As part of the review, a meta-analysis was used to compare key impacts across different climate regions. Although research on tropical rivers remains scarce, existing work is sufficient to allow us to draw some very broad, general conclusions about the nature of hydromorphic change: tropical dams have resulted in reductions in flow variability, lower flood peaks, reductions in sediment supply and loads, and complex geomorphic adjustments that include both channel incision and aggradation at different times and downstream distances. At this general level, impacts are consistent with those observed in other climate regions. However, studies are too few and variable in their focus to determine whether some of the more specific aspects of change observed in tropical rivers (e.g. time to reach a new, adjusted state, and downstream recovery distance) differ consistently from those in other regions. The review helps stress the need for research that incorporates before-after comparisons of flow and geomorphic conditions, and for the wider application of tools available now for assessing hydromorphic change. Very few studies have considered hydromorphic processes when designing flow operational policies for tropical dams.
Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
(Copyright © 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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