Geological impact and potential danger of China's Nu River Hydropower Development

Fan Xiao Geological Research Team, Sichuan Geology and Mineral Resources Bureau, China
Translation by Guo Xin


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Catalogue 1. Overview of Nu-Salween River, China Part 2. Geological profile of Nu River 3. Faulted zone and earthquake of Nu River 4. The threat of collapse, landslides and other geological disasters 5. The issue relating to sediment of reservoir 6. Our point of view and summary

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Overview of Nu-Salween River, China Part

- 3673 2013
Nujiang - Salween River rises in Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, South of Tanggula Mountain, with a total length of 3673 km, 2013 km of which in China. It flows through the Tibet Region and Yunnan Province.

-32.5 38.4% -5516 90.5% 2525 524.1153 21% Nujiang - Salween River covers a total area of 325,000 square kilometers, 38.4% of the total drainage area of the China territory; The drop height of Nujiang - Salween is 5516 meters in China, accounting for 90.5% of the total. Salween River has an average annual runoff of 252.5 billion cubic meters, and has an annual runoff of about 52.41 billion cubic meters in Yunnan Baoshandaojie Dam (153 kilometers from Chinese border) . The average runoff at Chinese border is 21% of its total cubic meters when it flows into the sea.

Jiayuqiao

Lushuiqiao

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Geological profile of Nu River


The Nu River is at the geological crossroad of the northeastern Indian plate and Eurasian plate, forms a dense fault zone due to the strong compression of the two plates. Nu River, Lancang and Jinsha river along the fault zone created a deep canyon, formed the natural wonders of the "Three Parallel Rivers".

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The movement of the Nujiang region is very active and seismic activities are frequent. The ancient riverbed which is 300 meters higher than the modern ones can be observed on both sides of the Nu. It can be calculated according to the age of the sediments of the terraces, that the average uplift rate of the crust of Nu in Yunnan can be more than 2 mm per year.

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The elevation of mountains on both sides of Nu are above 4000-5000 m, the depth of the Nu River valley up to 2000-3000 m. Since the terrain is very steep, landslides, mud-rock flow and other geological disasters caused by gravity are common. It is one of the famous geological disaster-prone areas in China.

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Faulted zone and earthquake of Nu River

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In the Hengduan Mountains, the Nujiang River valley is close to a straight line, between Shula Ridge Gaoligongshan and Tanianta Aung San - Nushan - Bi Luo Snow Mountain, Nujiang Valley is formed along the Nujiang large fracture. The area is still in intense activity today, it forms the most important earthquake zone, the south-west Yunnan earthquake zone. The Nu large fracture transforms into a series of northeast trending fracture after going through Baoshan and Longling, the seismic activities turns stronger, the area includes Daying (Dayingjiang), Nan-wan River (Longchuan) fault, Wanding River (Ruili) - Mans River (Luxi) fracture, Nujiang (Longling Mu city) fracture, Nanting River (Mengding) fracture, 6 magnitude earthquake are commonly seen in the area.

 Nu River fault near Liuku

145819765186 1632.36 15121976464615 30.961976-7.4 20115.8 In the area between eastern Nu and Yuan Jiang upstream, according to the statistics from 1458 to 1976, 16 earthquakes of more than magnitude 6 occurred, once every 32.3 years. From 1512 to1976, west of Nujiang, there were 15 earthquakes of magnitude more than 6, once every 30.9 years. Famous earthquake includes the Longling - Lianghe 7.4 magnitude earthquake in 1976. In 2011, a 5.8 magnitude earthquake occurred in Yingjiang.


On one hand, the seismic activity triggered geological disasters will put the large reservoirs in great security risk and generate potential risk of secondary chain of disasters; on the other hand, the construction of the large reservoirs are very more likely to cause earthquakes, resulting in a more serious disaster.

 It is noteworthy that the Nujiang fault zone, both the Hengduan Mountains segment and Baoshan and Longling zone, have the characteristics of sliding along the clockwise direction parallel to the valley, which will have serious impact to the dam constructed perpendicular to the valley. In the report of Planning of Hydroelectric Project in Middle, Downstream Nu River, prepared by China National Electricity Research Institute and Huadong Research Institute, the statistics observed on Nujiang fault zone activities was not mentioned and the potential impact on its cascade dam, risk in bringing earthquake when the reservoir is stored was not assessed.

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The threat of collapse, landslides and other geological disasters

 Nu River valley, especially the Hengduan Mountains part, is filled with steep slopes and deep valleys, fracture and broken rocks, seismic activity is frequent and the rainy season is concentrated, therefore the surface movement is very strong, collapse, landslide, mudslides and other geological disasters, makes river blockage quite frequently in history.

slide

landslip mud-rock flow

 7 85 30 Take the river part from Bingzhongluo to Liuku for example (the part is planning seven dams), on both sides of Nu River valley, the tributary channel are all mudslides channels. The fan-shape debris are common, making the river even narrower and forms dangerous shoals in the main river. At least 30 mudslides have been observed around the 85 km section of the river between Gongshan County and Fugong County, Lumadeng. The mud flows into the Nu River valley and caused a half-blockage.

 In Gongshan, three large rock fall and cliffs are observed in Danzhu, Yuege and Lietoudi. The rock fall of Yuege blocked Nu once, and it is still the most dangerous shoal in Nu, named The Hugest Wave in Nu and the wave can be as high as 7-8 meters.

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Because of the extremely unstable geological condition in Nu, the large-scale excavation in hydropower projects(the planning for excavation has reached 79,16 million cubic meters) , filling, transportation and other activities will inevitably aggravate geological hazards and soil erosion.

 For example, the Nu highway excavation and pavement widening caused changes in the relatively stable natural slope angle, increasing the height of the slope, therefore bringing a lot of disaster. The Bingzhongluo to Chawa Long roads has been unstable with cause of sandstone, slate and other soft rocks, and the free surface side had declined by gravity, bended and broken to form cliffs and dangerous areas.

201081892 On August 18, 2010, a huge mudslides occurred at Puladi at Gongshan County, Yunnan Province, resulting in the death of 92 people. The reason comes from the iron mining at upstream of Nus tributary, Dongyuege. The landslide caused by mining blocked Dongyuege and formed a dammed lake, the rised water led to dam failure, the flood carried a lot of silt stone and finally formed a large mudslides. The fact clearly illustrates the possible dangers of large-scale human engineering activities in such special geological environment of Nu River.


On the other hand, in such A high-risk area like Nu, since many disasters can not be fully forecasted, the investment of the project can be huge, and may even make some project unfinished or destroy the completed projects.

In the current planning of Nu Hydropower projects, a complete assessment of geological environmental impact, geological disaster engineering impact and risk costs is not included, leaving the vulnerabilities in the whole analyze of invest,ent.

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The issue relating to sediment of reservoir


Sediment in the river can be divided into two parts: First, suspended sediment, ie, relatively small particles of clay and sand, they can be transported in river in suspension; Secondly, the bedload, which are pebbles or boulders, they can only scroll all the way on the river bed to the downstream.


Due to the special geological and geomorphological environment of the Nu River, the collapse, landslide, mudslide which comes from upstream brought large amount of sediment to the riverbed.

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Without the dam, the the river sediment will gradually moved downstream riverbed in balance. Once the cascade dam is built, only a part of suspended sediment can be discharged into the downstream. A lot of sediment, especially coarse gravel will continue to accumulate, thereby seriously affecting the life and efficiency of the dam. 1000.2757.7 People use the proportion of the reservoir capacity and the annual sediment load as indicators to measure the feasibility and benefits of hydropower projects. Proportion 100 is a critical value, and when it is less than 100, it will normally cause serious problem. Currently in the 13 cascade dam of Nu river, 11 has a proportion less than 100, between 0.27 to 57.7. Theoretically these reservoirs may within several decades or even a shorter time be overwhelmed. If the amount of transported bedload is added, the problem can be unacceptable. This will significantly degrade the efficiency of hydropower projects in Nu Area.

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Our point of view and summary

 Nujiang hydropower development in the relevant geological environment is filled with high risks, it will bring a great deal of security threat of geological disasters.In addition to the geological risks, the Nujiang hydropower development will also produce negative impact on the following issues:


A series of cascade reservoir will drown the most prosperous, cultivated land of Nu, where the population is dense, bringing a huge loss to economy. A large number of immigrants will be moved to the steep terrain, bringing farming and livelihood difficulties, and also bring great environment pressure;


Involuntary migration of a large number of indigenous people will cause the disintegration of the original cultural and social structure, it will undermine the diversity of national cultural heritage of the Nu Area.


The natural rivers of Nu, if changed into a cascade of artificial reservoirs, will greatly impact the river environment and habitat, reduce aquatic life species. The aquatic ecosystems will be facing devastation;

Schizothorax nukiangensis Tsao

Placocheilus cryptonemus

Gnujiangensis Chen and Yangspnov

Epalzeorhynchus bicornis


It will destroy the authenticity of the natural landscape and environment of the World Natural Heritage the Three Parallel Rivers;


In the existing system, if the damage to the environment and indigenous people, the migration, impoverishment is aimed to bring huge economic interests to government and developers, an inequitable gap will be formed, causing instability and affecting social harmony

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Therefore, we oppose largescale hydropower development in the Nu River. We sincerely hope the stakeholders concerned can be cautious on the Nu River Hydropower Development, and hope to retain a natural, ecological, vigorous NuSalween River not only for the residents but also for our planet.