Tidal amplification and salt intrusion in the Mekong Delta driven by anthropogenic sediment starvation
| Autor: | Nam Nguyen Trung, Piet Hoekstra, Maarten van der Vegt, Sameh A. Kantoush, Sepehr Eslami, Tho Tran Quang, Do Duc Dung, Doan Van Binh |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2019 |
| Předmět: |
Delta
010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences 0208 environmental biotechnology Population Climate change lcsh:Medicine 02 engineering and technology Structural basin 01 natural sciences Article Natural hazard education lcsh:Science 0105 earth and related environmental sciences Sand mining education.field_of_study Multidisciplinary lcsh:R Sediment 020801 environmental engineering Environmental sciences Oceanography Ocean sciences Submarine pipeline lcsh:Q Hydrology |
| Zdroj: | Scientific Reports Scientific Reports, Vol 9, Iss 1, Pp 1-10 (2019) |
| ISSN: | 2045-2322 |
| Popis: | Natural resources of the Mekong River are essential to livelihood of tens of millions of people. Previous studies highlighted that upstream hydro-infrastructure developments impact flow regime, sediment and nutrient transport, bed and bank stability, fish productivity, biodiversity and biology of the basin. Here, we show that tidal amplification and saline water intrusion in the Mekong Delta develop with alarming paces. While offshore M2 tidal amplitude increases by 1.2–2 mm yr−1 due to sea level rise, tidal amplitude within the delta is increasing by 2 cm yr−1 and salinity in the channels is increasing by 0.2–0.5 PSU yr−1. We relate these changes to 2–3 m bed level incisions in response to sediment starvation, caused by reduced upstream sediment supply and downstream sand mining, which seems to be four times more than previous estimates. The observed trends cannot be explained by deeper channels due to relative sea level rise; while climate change poses grave natural hazards in the coming decades, anthropogenic forces drive short-term trends that already outstrip climate change effects. Considering the detrimental trends identified, it is imperative that the Mekong basin governments converge to effective transboundary management of the natural resources, before irreversible damage is made to the Mekong and its population. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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