The characteristics of the China coastline

Evolution of China's coastline reflects the influence of geology, rivers, climate, typhoons, waves, tides, shelf currents, and sea-level changes. While tectonics control the broadscale appearance of the coast (either bedrock-embayed in emergent regions or plains coast in subsiding regions), rivers dominate the supply of sediment to the shore and help control erosional/accretionary trends. The Yellow River (Huang He) is the world's largest in terms of sediment supply, while the Yangtze River (Chang Jiang) is the fourth largest in terms of water discharge. The size of these large rivers, combined with their instability over recent geological and historical times, accentuates their impact on coastal development in China. Since the migration of the Yellow River northwards from the Yellow Sea into the Bohai Sea in 1855, the north Jiangsu coast has eroded approximately 17 km inland, while the new delta near Lijin has encroached about 28 km into the Bohai Sea. The coastal classification of Wang (1980, Geoscience Canada, 7, 109–113) is applied to the coast of China, dividing China into four major sectors. Relative impact of rivers, waves and tides on coastal processes in each of these sectors varies widely, ranging from river-dominated in the Bohai Sea sector, to wave-dominated in the southern Guangdong/Guanxi sector. This classification and discussion summarizes major studies of coastal processes in China.