Min Estuary is located in the southeast part of China. As there are are several coastal engineering projects would be soon carried out in this area, it is urgent to understand the characteristics of the sea bed evolution. The sea bed evolution of Min Estuary is studied using the field data in 2001, 2003 and 2009. Based on the digital elevation model (DEM), we compared the contour maps and checked the morphology change at typical sections of Min Estuary. It is shown that there is little erosion and sedimentation in Min Estuary.
Estuaries are interfaces between river catchment and open ocean, where the morphodynamic process is very complicated under the interaction of runoff and tide (Zheng et al., 2002). A lot of estuaries have experienced considerable human activities. The resulting morphology change is highly concerned in estuarine and coastal engineering (Zheng et al., 2011a). Min River flows from the junction of Min, Zhe and Gan Provinces in the southeast part of China. Min Estuary starts from the Nantai Island, covering the Min'an canyon, Tingjiang, Meihua channel and Changmen Channel. The estuary is divided into four branches (Fig 1), and is shaped by runoff-tide interaction and intensive sediment transport. Numerous studies have been carried out to invesitigate the estuary evolution (Zheng et al., 2011b). Some researchers have analyzed the evolution of Ribble Estuary using DEM (van der Wal et al., 2002). In the 1990s, the forming mechanism of the Neisha riffle and Waisha Riffle was investigated (Pan et al., 1992). It was pointed out that the flow diffusion, tidal current top-lashed action and the weak sand transportation capability led to the development of these two riffles. Sand was brought by flood to the outer entrance and then deposited to form the Waisha riffle.
