• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.88-102
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• 2017

Long-term changes in bathymetry and grain size of surface sediments were investigated for understanding depositional sedimentary environments in the channelized Yeongsan River Estuary, Korea. The results revealed that an average depth of the estuary had decreased up to 2.1 m from 1982 to 2006, while it had increased to 0.3 m from 2006 to 2012. The rapid decrease of the water depth from 1982 to 2006 was due to the vast deposition of mud caused by the change of water course and flow velocity after the estuary was dammed. Meanwhile the increase of the water depth from 2006 to 2012 may be associated with multiple erosional processes, including a dredging at the southern part of the estuary and other erosions from the dike sluice expansion work. Considering the water-depth change and tidal-level variation in the study area, an depositional rate in the estuary is estimated to be 8~9 cm/yr for the last 2 decades (1982~2006). The sediments of Yeongsan River Estuary are largely composed of silt-clay mixtures: overall, silt is distributed mainly in the shallow area of the estuary edge, while clay is confined to the deep area of the estuary center. Mean grain size of the sediments is 6.0 Ø on average in 1997, 7.8 Ø on average in 2005 and 7.7 Ø on average in 2012, respectively, suggesting that the sediments became finer due to the increase of silt and clay contents in 1997~2005. Furthermore, several lines of evidences, including the comparison between the amounts of the sediment influx discharged from the Yeongsan River and the sediments in the estuary, and the changes in distribution pattern of silt and clay contents implying that they moved from offshore to estuary dike, indicate that the mud sediments are originated mainly from the offshore, not from the river.