This book provides a comprehensive and systematic analysis of the morphodynamic process of the Changjiang River from upstream to estuary in the Anthropocene. As the longest river in China, the Changjiang River has nurtured Chinese civilization with ample natural resources for thousands of years. Evidence highlights that the Changjiang River has experienced intensive human interference and indicated dramatic changes in the Anthropocene, including “no flood in flood season, no dry in dry season” in discharge; “less flood in flood season, more dry in dry season” in sediment; riverbed shifts from accretion to erosion; lakes in the middle-lower reach turn from sediment sink to source; estuarine tidal flat exhibits self-organization characteristics and maintains the current accretion state; estuarine branches that connect to the sea show district morphodynamic patterns; and depocenters of the submerged delta indicate periodic shifts. The book stresses that dam construction upstream, practically the Three Gorges Dam, the world’s largest hydraulic engineering project, has significant influences on the hydrology and geomorphology of the middle-lower reach but has a slight effect on estuarine delta development. The geomorphological structure of the estuarine channel is dominated by local land reclamation, navigation, and dredging. This book clarifies the river-estuary morphodynamics of the Changjiang River and indicates the general features of global mega rivers under human interference as well as their own response mechanisms. This book also exhibits the potential risk of river-estuary deltas in the future, as both material and dynamics are experiencing acceleration adjustment.

"Sea level is rising, and yet Americans continue to develop beaches with little regard. In this volume, a group of coastal geologists discusses the startling saga of ten U.S. East and Gulf Coast shoreline communities (plus Puerto Rico and some western Europe strands) and the problems created by their inevitable interaction with natural processes in this highly dynamic geologic environment. The authors discuss the geologic context of the hazards of each site as the history of societal responses and their environmental impacts. Response to the natural coastal processes that threaten lives and buildings is carried out in a context of local, state and national politics with fixed short-term engineering solutions (beach replenishment, seawalls) generally favored over longer-term approaches (moving back, prohibition of seawalls). This essential GSA Special Paper foreshadows the impending rise of sea level and the myriad of shoreline responses and political controversies it will provoke."--Publisher's description.