Experiments on the deterministic and non-deterministic responses of lacustrine deltaic channels to water inflow
2021
Xu, Haijue | Song, Xiaolong | Bai, Yuchuan
The stochastic characteristics of river-delta systems pose large uncertainties for the environmental management of deltas. This study explored the use of two sets of individually repeated physical modelling experiments, to tentatively investigate the deterministic and non-deterministic responses of lacustrine deltaic channels to upstream water inflow. Results indicated that the single-main channel length increased positively with discharge, and was inevitably accompanied by the non-positive changing of both the fluctuation characteristics of the relative position of the bifurcating node for different-order branching channels, and the average period of all the geometrical indicators of higher-order branching channels in the middle delta; the major non-deterministic highlights were the positive and negative correlations of average period and average value for the relative position of the bifurcating node and the branching channel length, respectively, in the upper delta under the low-discharge conditions. These findings refresh our understanding of bifurcation instability and lay the foundation for stochastic modelling of lacustrine-delta morphology.
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