Simulation and verification of regional hydrological gravity effect considering undulating terrain: a case study of the head region of Three Gorges Reservoir

doi:10.11947/j.AGCS.2025.20240449

Abstract

Abstract:

The cutoff of the Three Gorges Dam has led to changes in the region's hydrology and even the Yangtze River basin. Most previous studies using river digital elevation and regional hydrological models focused on analyzing the gravity response of simplified water storage models and regional equivalent water heights, without considering the impact of river slopes and surrounding undulating terrain. This study constructed a water storage load model based on the river boundary of the head area of the Three Gorges Reservoir extracted by the Gaofen-1 (GF-1) satellite image. It used the Delaunay method to triangulate the complex water body surface and surrounding terrain. The regional hydrological gravity and gravity gradient effect were simulated using a high-precision polyhedron external gravity field algorithm. The research results indicate that considering the dynamic variation of water level and its impact on the slope provides a more reasonable simulation of the gravitational effects during the reservoir impoundment process. The relative error concerning absolute gravity measurements is 14%, which represents a significant improvement compared to the previous static reservoir models (with relative errors of 50% and 71% for low and high water levels, respectively). Furthermore, the regional hydrological gravity effect simulation suggests that when calculating gravity changes using global or regional hydrological models, the topography surrounding the observation points should be considered. The high-precision reservoir load modeling and forward simulation results for the Three Gorges Reservoir area presented in this paper will provide important support for long-term regional gravity monitoring, comparative analysis, and hydrological gravity correction. The findings also contribute to further exploration of the dynamic processes triggered by reservoir impoundments, such as landslides and seismic activities in the reservoir area.

Key words: the head region of Three Gorges Reservoir, hydrological load, Delaunay triangulation, time-varying gravity, undulating terrain

CLC Number:

P223

Mingtao ZHU, Yi ZHANG, Xian MA, Linsong WANG. Simulation and verification of regional hydrological gravity effect considering undulating terrain: a case study of the head region of Three Gorges Reservoir[J]. Acta Geodaetica et Cartographica Sinica, 2025, 54(5): 819-830.

Figures/Tables 11

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A10测点	实测差异	低水位静态模型+区域水文模型	高水位静态模型+区域水文模型	本文蓄水模型+区域水文模型	区域水文模型
秭归测站	13.79	4.80（－8.99）	16.85（+3.06）	12.06（－1.74）	－3.90
112	64.56	64.57（+0.01）	112.09（+47.52）	76.05（+11.49）	－1.37
114	15.44	6.17（－9.27）	65.18（+49.74）	10.82（－4.62）	－2.36
116	125.18	13.60（－111.58）	15.65（－109.54）	134.02（+8.84）	－1.68
118	95.65	106.23（+10.58）	139.45（+43.80）	88.51（－7.15）	－1.71
120	137.48	149.42（+11.94）	773.84（+636.35）	102.76（－34.72）	－1.22
124	190.52	115.61（－74.91）	388.34（+197.82）	185.69（－4.83）	－1.00
132	105.55	71.22（－34.33）	88.71（－16.84）	102.52（－3.03）	－1.41
134	97.58	57.88（－39.69）	89.91（－7.67）	74.4（－23.17）	－1.96
138	284.78	222.91（－61.87）	441.27（+156.49）	307.71（+22.93）	－0.72
212	12.38	7.90（－4.49）	11.06（－1.32）	12.03（－0.35）	－1.99
218	132.61	67.53（－65.09）	668.57（+535.96）	133.54（+0.93）	－0.94
220	67.36	27.76（－39.6）	51.15（－16.21）	52.01（－15.34）	－0.59
222	73.32	1.08（－72.25）	67.59（－5.73）	38.99（－34.34）	－1.32
301	10.50	13.86（+3.36）	27.15（+16.65）	26.06（+15.56）	－2.04
303	6.18	0.16（－6.02）	0.24（－5.94）	5.43（－0.75）	－0.02
305	2.35	0.52（－1.82）	46.41（+44.06）	2.13（－0.21）	－2.19
306	1.97	－0.63（－2.6）	0.16（－1.81）	0.71（－1.26）	－2.23
2222	22.66	70.28（+47.63）	366.51（+343.85）	47.1（+24.45）	－1.32