Riverbank Erosion in the Lower Yellow River

Bank erosion, including lateral erosion and bank failure, is one of the most important fluvial processes in the Lower Yellow River, especially when the upstrearm reservoir impounds water and releases low sediment laden flows. In this paper, conceptions of bank erosion and its retreat rate are presented, and a new procedure to analyze the bank erosion rate is proposed. Then mechanisms of bank erosion and influencing factors are systematically discussed through using the bank erosion in the river channel downstream of the Sanmenxia Reservoir as an example. Finally, based on the analysis of field data, the ranges of erosion rate for different reaches in the Lower Yellow River are obtained. It is shown that the bank erosion rate is closely related to the stability coefficient and geomorphological coefficient.