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Spatial and Temporal Changes of Sand Mining in the Yangtze River Basin since the Establishment of the Three Gorges Dam

The global demand for sand and gravel is at 50 billion tons per year, far exceeding global resource capacities. It reached 7.6 billion tons in 2021 in the Yangtze River Basin (YRB), China. However, production is severely limited in the YRB. Therefore, the incongruity between the supply and demand of...

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Autores principales: Ma, Yugai, Chai, Yingying, Xu, Y. Jun, Li, Zijun, Zheng, Shuwei
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9778690/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36554593
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192416712
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author Ma, Yugai
Chai, Yingying
Xu, Y. Jun
Li, Zijun
Zheng, Shuwei
author_facet Ma, Yugai
Chai, Yingying
Xu, Y. Jun
Li, Zijun
Zheng, Shuwei
author_sort Ma, Yugai
collection PubMed
description The global demand for sand and gravel is at 50 billion tons per year, far exceeding global resource capacities. It reached 7.6 billion tons in 2021 in the Yangtze River Basin (YRB), China. However, production is severely limited in the YRB. Therefore, the incongruity between the supply and demand of river sand is prominent. Wise management of decreasing sand resources in the YRB has become critical since the Three Gorges Dam became operational in 2003. This study synthesized spatial and temporal changes in sand mining activities and quantities along the Yangtze River and its major tributaries from 2004 to 2020. Results from the study show that the mining amount during the period reached 76.2 million tons annually. At the same time, riverine suspended sediment discharge (SSD) downstream of the Three Gorges Dam decreased largely. SSD reduction leads to riverbed erosion, further limiting the riverine sand and gravel sources for mining. Thus, alternative sand and gravel resources, as well as optimizing supply/demand balance, are necessary for sustainable development. There is an urgent need to assess the relationship between river sand resources and exploitation in the YRB for creating a sand and gravel data management system in order to cope with the increasing incongruity between their supply and demand.
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spelling pubmed-97786902022-12-23 Spatial and Temporal Changes of Sand Mining in the Yangtze River Basin since the Establishment of the Three Gorges Dam Ma, Yugai Chai, Yingying Xu, Y. Jun Li, Zijun Zheng, Shuwei Int J Environ Res Public Health Article The global demand for sand and gravel is at 50 billion tons per year, far exceeding global resource capacities. It reached 7.6 billion tons in 2021 in the Yangtze River Basin (YRB), China. However, production is severely limited in the YRB. Therefore, the incongruity between the supply and demand of river sand is prominent. Wise management of decreasing sand resources in the YRB has become critical since the Three Gorges Dam became operational in 2003. This study synthesized spatial and temporal changes in sand mining activities and quantities along the Yangtze River and its major tributaries from 2004 to 2020. Results from the study show that the mining amount during the period reached 76.2 million tons annually. At the same time, riverine suspended sediment discharge (SSD) downstream of the Three Gorges Dam decreased largely. SSD reduction leads to riverbed erosion, further limiting the riverine sand and gravel sources for mining. Thus, alternative sand and gravel resources, as well as optimizing supply/demand balance, are necessary for sustainable development. There is an urgent need to assess the relationship between river sand resources and exploitation in the YRB for creating a sand and gravel data management system in order to cope with the increasing incongruity between their supply and demand. MDPI 2022-12-13 /pmc/articles/PMC9778690/ /pubmed/36554593 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192416712 Text en © 2022 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Ma, Yugai
Chai, Yingying
Xu, Y. Jun
Li, Zijun
Zheng, Shuwei
Spatial and Temporal Changes of Sand Mining in the Yangtze River Basin since the Establishment of the Three Gorges Dam
title Spatial and Temporal Changes of Sand Mining in the Yangtze River Basin since the Establishment of the Three Gorges Dam
title_full Spatial and Temporal Changes of Sand Mining in the Yangtze River Basin since the Establishment of the Three Gorges Dam
title_fullStr Spatial and Temporal Changes of Sand Mining in the Yangtze River Basin since the Establishment of the Three Gorges Dam
title_full_unstemmed Spatial and Temporal Changes of Sand Mining in the Yangtze River Basin since the Establishment of the Three Gorges Dam
title_short Spatial and Temporal Changes of Sand Mining in the Yangtze River Basin since the Establishment of the Three Gorges Dam
title_sort spatial and temporal changes of sand mining in the yangtze river basin since the establishment of the three gorges dam
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9778690/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36554593
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192416712
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