Abstract
Attentions are being paid recently to the relationship between tidal movement of water and water quality change in estuaries. Water quality data collected in the near-estuary of the River Han were analyzed by correlation between water quality factors determined by pattern analysis and major component analysis, and the phenomenology of water quality change mechanisms was studied.
No significant difference in water quality pattern was observed between different directions of flow or different water depth in the River Han. In upstream to midstream or in tributaries, major portion of water quality change may be described by decomposing the changes in organic pollutants represented by BOD or COD. In downstream and the estuary, however changes in inorganic nutrients appear to be more important than the changes in BOD or COD.
