Estuary Processes and Managment - River Dynamics and Integrated River Management - page 463

(a) (b)
Fig. 8.2 Ural delta (a) and Ebro delta (b) extend into the sea, which show male delta features
deposits to form shoals that eventually coalesce to form estuarine islands. Consequently the river flow is
bifurcated. Over time numerous islands develop in the estuary and a complex channel network forms.
Figure 8.3 shows the channel network and the islands formed during the deltaic process of the Yangtze
River (Xie et al., 2009).
Fig. 8.3 Present Yangtze River estuary—Chongming Island divides the river into the North and South Branches;
Changxing Island divides the South Branch into the North and South Channels; and Jiuduan Shoal divides the South
Channel into the North and South Passages
The Yangtze River is characterized by a high flow discharge and a high sediment load (Table 8.1). The
Yangtze River is the longest and largest river in China, and is also the third longest and third largest river
in the world. The river is 6300 km long and has a drainage basin area of 1.8 million km 2 . The Yangtze
River carries large amounts of water and sediment into the East China Sea. In the history deltaic islands
and shores develop continuously at the river mouth, leading to bifurcations of the channels. The Yangtze