The study area is located at Laizhou Bay in Shandong Province,
China (Fig. 1)within the latitude of 36◦4843–37◦3249 and longitude
118◦3737–119◦4431. The length along the east-west and of
north-south directions is approximately 97km and 79 km, respectively.
The total study area is 486,245 ha. Land elevation drops
mildly from 30m to 2m above the sea level. Yet the length of
the meandering coastal line within the study area is about 400km
long. Such coastal region is an active floodplain that was formed
by sediment laden water being released from the neighboring
river channel through the regional morphological and sedimentary
dynamics. Three cities, including the Shouguang City, part of
the Weifang City (e.g., the Hangting area), and most of the Changyi
City, are situated along this coastal line. The sediment distribution
in the alluvial plain ranges from fine sand (close to the low water
line) to the typical mud carried by flood currents. Close to the open
ocean, the climate system in this area is a moist, warm, temperate
continental monsoon climate (Wang et al., 2002; Guan et al.,
2001).