The Bohai Sea is slowly shrinking and has formed 5,000 square kilometers of land. Is it a blessing or a curse?

It is understood that China's Bohai Bay is shrinking and has formed a land area of ​​5,000 square kilometers. So what is going on? Is it a blessing or a curse?

Bohai Bay is a very important inland sea in China. It plays an important role in economic development and ecological protection. It is located in China's Shandong Peninsula and Liaoning Peninsula, surrounded by Hebei Province and Tianjin City.

The coastline of the Bohai Sea is 3,800 kilometers long, 346 kilometers apart at the widest point from east to west, 550 kilometers long from north to south, and has an average depth of 18 meters.

The Bohai Sea is also the estuary of the Yellow River, the Liaohe River, the Luanhe River and the Haihe River, with an annual runoff of 88.8 billion cubic meters. It is precisely because of such a large runoff that the Bohai Sea area is rich in prawns, crabs and yellow croakers. It can be said that This is a natural fishing ground. The annual production of phytoplankton reaches 140 million tons, while the annual production of fish is 490,000 tons.

However, such a rich inland sea has been shrinking year after year. As early as 1984, the construction scale of the urban agglomeration around the estuary of the Haihe and Liaohe in the Bohai Bay was relatively small, and there was no fish farming.

But with the development of modern society, at the mouth of the Liaohe Haihe, it is obvious that the coastline has been extended by 10 kilometers.

In addition, the Haihe River and the Yellow River flowing from the Shandong Peninsula were very primitive as early as 1984, and the coastline has not changed significantly, but until now, with the continuous development of coastal port cities, the Yellow River has exited the sea. The coastline also protrudes outward for nearly 10 kilometers.

Because of this, in just a few decades, the sea area of ​​the Bohai Sea has shrunk by 5,000 square kilometers, and the extra tidal flats are also extending outward at a speed visible to the naked eye. At this speed, within 200 years, The Bohai Bay may become only the size of a lake.

The land area of ​​the Bohai Bay has increased to 5,000 square kilometers in the past 30 years. So what is the reason for the emergence of such a large area of ​​land in the Bohai Bay?

As human society has stepped into modern times, the global climate has warmed and sea level rise has become a major issue of global concern. It stands to reason that, if the sea level rises, the water in the Bohai Bay area will not rise, at least will not decrease, but the fact is Quite the opposite.

Although the global sea level has risen by 10 to 20 centimeters since the 20th century, the Bohai Sea is shrinking. This is because the Bohai Sea is China's inland sea, and the impact of sea level rise on it is small. Therefore, the sea level rise in the short term The area of ​​the Bohai Sea cannot be enlarged.

The main reason for the shrinking of the Bohai Bay is the soil erosion in the upper reaches of the Yellow River. We all know that the area through which the Yellow River flows is the region with the weakest ecological environment in China, including the Loess Plateau where soil erosion is very serious. Therefore, under the continuous scouring of rain and Yellow River water every year, about 1.2 to 1.6 billion tons of sediment are washed into the Yellow River.

And 75% of the sediment was brought into the sea by the current and deposited near the estuary. Year after year, due to the serious soil erosion in the upper reaches of the Yellow River, the area of ​​tidal flats at the estuary of the Yellow River will become larger and larger.

In addition to natural reasons, there are also some man-made reasons. We all know that the soil erosion in the Yellow River Basin is serious. Although the ecological environment of the Haihe and Liaohe River Basin is relatively good, the area of ​​tidal flats has also increased year by year at their estuaries. The main reason is that with the development of port cities, the required urban area will increase accordingly. Therefore, artificial reclamation has appeared at the estuaries of these rivers, so the land near the estuary of the Bohai Bay River has appeared. The reason for the increasing area.

Of course, in addition to this, frequent human activities and the growing development of offshore fish farming are also one of the reasons why the Bohai Bay area has been shrinking year after year.

The Bohai Bay has been shrinking for decades, and now it has formed a land area of ​​5,000 square kilometers. So what impact will the continuous shrinking of the Bohai Bay have on us?

Everything has two sides. Although the Bohai Bay is shrinking at an alarming rate, it has a very good side for the development of human society.

First of all, the shrinking area of ​​the Bohai Bay means that the coastline is protruding, which also means that the land area that can be used will increase. Of course, because it has been soaked in seawater all the year round, it is naturally unreliable to use these lands to develop agriculture, but these extra lands have provided excellent resources for the expansion of these coastal cities.

Among them, Tianjin is relatively poor in land resources, and its development speed is also the fastest among these port cities in the Bohai Bay, and the mouth of the Haihe River just flows through Tianjin. In this way, the urban area of ​​Tianjin can be It increases with the increase of the tidal flat area at the estuary of the Haihe River.

For China as a whole, the increase in the land area of ​​the Bohai Bay means that the land area under China's administrative jurisdiction is also increasing, which can increase China's national defense and comprehensive national strength to some extent.

Of course, from the perspective of the ecological environment, the decreasing area of ​​the Bohai Bay means that the sea area of ​​the Bohai Sea is shrinking, and the area of ​​the marine life habitat that originally lived in the Bohai Bay will also decrease.

In this way, the population of marine organisms will be reduced, and even some marine organisms will become extinct. As a result, fishery aquaculture in the Bohai Bay will also be seriously affected, which will eventually lead to a reduction in fish production and a decline in the income of fishermen. .

It can be seen that the problem of human action on the environment will eventually occur to human beings themselves. Of course, we also know that the Bohai Bay is an important ecological region, and the country will definitely not ignore the increasing land area.