Retrogressiveerosion,awidespreadphenomenonofsedimenttransportinreservoirs,oftenimpactsonboththereservoircapacityandthesedimentationinthedownstreamriverchannel.BasedonfielddatafromtheSanmenxiaReservoirandtheLowerYellowRiveroverthepastdecades,threecoursesofretrogressiveerosionwithdistinctivefeatureswereanalyzed.Theresultsindicatethatretrogressiveerosion,especiallycausedbyrapidreductioninthewaterleveltillthereservoirisempty,oftenresultsintheserioussiltationofthelowerYellowRiverandthreatensthesafetyofthefloodcontrolintheLowerYellowRiver.Unreasonableoperationofthereservoirandincominghyperconcentratedfloodsaccompaniedbyretrogressiveerosionalsoaggravatethesiltationofthemainchanneloftheriver.However,areasonableoperationmodeofthereservoirsonamed”storingtheclear(lowsedimentconcentration)waterinthenon-floodseason,andsluicingthemuddy(highsedimentconcentration)waterinthefloodseason”wasfound,whichmightmitigatethedepositioninboththereservoirandtheLowerYellowRiver.Thisoperationmodeprovidesimportantexperienceforthedesignandoperationoflargereservoirsinotherlargeriverscarryinghugeamountsofsediment.
