Determine the spatial extent of backwater effects from the evolution of the Yellow River Estuary based on the translation correlation analysis

The knowledge of backwater effects of the Yellow River expansion is crucial to the decision-making of river regulation and training works in the Yellow River. In this study, we propose a new method, translation correlation analysis, based on the spatiotemporal propagation characteristics of headward and downward erosion and deposition. Waterlevel data for 1950-1990 were used to analyze the process and extent of effects of headward erosion and deposition resulting from the evolution of the Yellow River Estuary on the channels of the Lower Yellow River. The results show that water levels in different sections of the Lower Yellow River increase overall with fluctuations and that water level variation is not completely spatially synchronized. At the same time nodes, water levels differ greatly in different sections, showing the propagation characteristics of disturbance waves. In the Lower Yellow River, downward erosion and deposition development are rapid, and it takes approximately one year for erosion and deposition disturbance waves to propagate from the Huayuankou cross-section to the Gaocun cross-section of the Yellow River, while changes in erosion and deposition are basically synchronized between the Gaocun and Aishan cross-sections. Headward erosion and deposition are relatively slow, with a lag effect. Changes in erosion and deposition in the Luokou cross-section have mainly been affected by the cumulative effects of changes in erosion and deposition in the Lijin section over the past 8 years. Headward erosion and deposition due to the evolution of the Yellow River Estuary mainly influence lower reaches downstream of the Aishan cross-section, which is located approximately 350 km from the Yellow River Estuary.