Will the Bohai Sea disappear? Shandong and Liaoning are only more than 100 kilometers apart. Why don't they build a cross-sea bridge?

For this reason, when we explore alien planets, we will also pay special attention to whether there is water on it, especially the existence of liquid water, because this may be directly related to the existence of life on the planet. For example, on Mars, we have found traces of the past existence of liquid water, which has become one of the focuses of scientists' research.

Let’s look back at Earth’s oceans. Because of the vastness and "moody" nature of the ocean, people are full of yearning and fear for the ocean. Although countless humans have lost their lives because of the anger of the ocean, people have never given up exploring the ocean after all, because there is endless wealth and knowledge there.

Not only can we find a variety of resources in the sea, we can also find more knowledge in the sea, and even the mysteries of the evolution of life itself. China is a vast country, and we have a very long coastline. So what is the significance of the ocean to our country, and how will each ocean affect our lives in the future?

Our country has vast sea areas and is a country rich in marine resources. Our country has “four seas”, but they are not simply named by their locations like the seas in Journey to the West. my country's main sea areas are the Bohai Sea, the Yellow Sea, the East China Sea and the South China Sea. They are each in different locations, and their areas and surrounding environments are also different.

Among them, the South China Sea is the largest ocean in our country and the third continental sea in the world. The East China Sea is a "marginal sea" with rich aquatic resources. It has been an important "fishing ground" for our country since ancient times, and it still provides delicious fishery products to our people.

Continue heading north from the East China Sea and reach the Yellow Sea. The Yellow Sea is also a marginal sea, located between my country and the Korean Peninsula, and its area is smaller than the South China Sea and the East China Sea. The salt content of the Yellow Sea is low because there are many freshwater rivers flowing into it, diluting the salinity of the seawater.

In addition, the injection of freshwater rivers also brought a large amount of sediment to the Yellow Sea, turning it into a veritable "Yellow Sea". The Yellow Sea is closer to the mainland and adjacent to the Bohai Sea, my country's only inland sea, and the Bohai Sea is also the smallest sea area in my country. Its "past and present life" is a history of my country's land changes, which can be called a real "changes in the sea".

The Bohai Sea is not a sea area with a "long history", it is even shorter than the history of human beings. It was once a piece of land, and turned into a freshwater lake during the subsidence process. Later, it gradually began to become an ocean about 3.3 million years ago, which is quite "young".

The total capacity of the Bohai Sea is about 1,730 cubic kilometers, and the average water depth is about 18 meters. However, the water depth in parts closer to the coast is far less than this depth, and is even only a few meters deep. It is such a small shallow sea, but it still faces a serious problem - it may "repeat the same mistakes" in the future and disappear from the world again. What's going on?

The problem lies with one of the mother rivers of the Chinese nation, the Yellow River. The outlet of the Yellow River has experienced many changes, and has returned to the Bohai Sea since about 1855, transporting a large amount of sediment here every year. The Yellow River's ability to create land is among the best among many rivers in the world. Therefore, the area of ​​the Bohai Sea is gradually reduced due to the inflow of the Yellow River.

Someone has specifically calculated that if the "reclamation" of the Yellow River continues according to the maximum sediment flow of the Yellow River, the Bohai Sea will completely disappear in a few hundred years. If that is the case, then eastern Shandong Province and eastern Liaoning Province will be connected together to form my country's new land territory.

But this is only data from decades ago. Judging from current development, such a thing will basically never happen. The reason is that the sediment transport volume of the Yellow River is decreasing year by year, even reduced by about 90% compared with when the sediment was the most. Why is the once "mud river" becoming clearer and clearer? There are two main reasons.

Firstly, because there have been more and more reservoirs on the Yellow River in recent years, which has fundamentally reduced the amount of water flowing into the Bohai Sea, and the amount of sediment has naturally decreased; secondly, because of the return of farmland to forest in our country. Actions to control desertification and grassroots have achieved good results. The once serious problem of water and soil erosion has been greatly improved. The sediment content in the Yellow River has become less and less. Therefore, the rate of "filling in" of the Bohai Sea has also slowed down. , we no longer have to worry about this inland sea disappearing completely in a short period of time.

After figuring out the future development issues of the Bohai Sea, some people began to think about this question: Since the Bohai Sea will continue to exist for a long time, why can’t we just build a cross-sea bridge to connect the nearest What about connecting Shandong and Liaoning, which is more than 100 kilometers away? Transportation is undoubtedly the lifeblood of a country's development, and land transportation will inevitably be affected by topography. For example, when we build highways, even if we open roads over mountains and build bridges over rivers, we cannot completely reach the destination directly. .

Most people know that a straight line is the shortest between two points, but in the real world not everything is as simple as the theorem itself. There are too many factors that we have to take into account. In addition to topography, the towns and regions connected by roads also need to be fully considered.

But the cross-sea bridge is different. Our country's bridge-building technology leads the world. For example, the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge is a model of our bridge-building projects. It connects Hong Kong, Macau and Zhuhai, and a considerable part of it is a cross-sea tunnel. The difficulty of construction can be imagined. The Bohai Sea itself is an inland sea, and its depth is not exaggerated. Is it possible to build a cross-sea bridge?

If we can directly connect eastern Shandong and eastern Liaoning, the transportation between the two provinces will be more convenient, which will be very beneficial to economic development. However, this project has not officially started yet and is only in the planning and theoretical stage. Why is this happening?

my country's infrastructure capabilities and development speed are obvious to the world. As long as we are determined to build such a cross-sea bridge, it will start in full swing immediately. However, there are still many concerns about building the Bohai Bay Bridge, so we have not really started yet. The first is the issue of difficulty and funding. Although our country has strong bridge-building technology, it has never actually built a 100-kilometer-long cross-sea bridge. Even the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge has not exceeded this length.

If we really want to build a bridge across the Bohai Bay, the technical difficulty will be astonishing. Moreover, the estimated cost of this bridge will reach 300 billion yuan, which is a huge expenditure for any province or city.

The construction of other cross-sea bridges may receive strong support from the state, but the Bohai Bay cross-sea bridge is not "all benefits and no harm". Other provinces and cities in North China may have some suggestions for this. Scruples. After all, the construction of the cross-sea bridge involves the interests of many places, and the balance between these interests will be very difficult.

Not everything can be "win-win". Generally speaking, only when the benefits absolutely outweigh the disadvantages will we invest so many resources to complete such a thing, such as the Three Gorges Project The construction is like this. Therefore, we may build the Bohai Bay Bridge in the future, but that will be a matter of consideration and balance.

After the founding of New China, we have been committed to building the country and have achieved world-renowned results in all aspects. After solving the economic construction of the most important land territory, we gradually began to set our sights on the ocean. For example, in the South China Sea, the vastest area of ​​our country, we have begun to reclaim and build islands, turning those "inconspicuous" islands in the past into an important part of our country's military, tourism and natural research.

It is not too difficult to "fill up" the Bohai Sea, but the South China Sea allows us to build at will, while the Bohai Sea is much more difficult because it involves more areas. However, it is foreseeable that the Bohai Sea will not remain in a state of stagnant development in the future, and will still carry out development suitable for local conditions.

In addition to ocean development for economic construction, we must also pay attention to another issue, which is the protection of the ocean. While human beings are carrying out construction, they cannot ignore the problem of the marine environment. This is one of the most serious difficulties we face today.

The ocean is the key to the balance of the earth's environment and biosphere. If we destroy the ocean due to temporary development, the final outcome will be that humans themselves will swallow a bitter pill. Therefore, our country now attaches great importance to this point and fully considers the principle of moderation when developing.

Although human civilization has developed for nearly ten thousand years, there are still many things we don’t understand about the vast ocean. The “discovery” and exploration of the ocean is actually a microcosm of the overall development of mankind. In the future, we will definitely continue to invest energy in this regard, striving to find more wealth and resources in the ocean, so that our society can develop faster and better.

At the same time, we also need to pay attention to the impact of everything now on the ocean. For example, the massive emissions of human greenhouse gases are causing the earth's temperature to continue to rise, the glaciers at the poles continue to melt, and the sea level has also risen a lot. If this continues for a long time, many coastal cities will be affected or even completely submerged.

Today’s Chinese people have understood what “lucid waters and lush mountains are like mountains of gold and silver”. Our management of the Yellow River and the control of carbon emissions reflect this concept.

As one of the largest developing countries in the world, China’s attitude towards the environment will have a great impact on the overall environment of the earth. From another aspect, our measures also reflect China’s role as a As a big country, we will not sacrifice the long-term future just for temporary interests.