Abstract: The last 20 years have seen new progresses in palaeochannel studies in China, including the investigations on palaeochannels in Nenjiang Daan, palaeochannels in the plain south of Laizhou bay, and palaeochannels, deep ancient grooves and submarine palaeochannels in the Yangtze river downstream of Nanjing, and so on. As a result, a large number of achievements have been accomplished, and new theories proposed; the research achievements have found new applications as well. The new knowledge and new theories indicate that buried palaeochannels exist in all of large outflowing rivers in China since the LGM(Last Glacial Maximum). The palaeochannel runs deep into the stadial terrestrial and the sea bed of the continental shelf from the Last Glacial Epoch, forming a cutting valley with deep grooves at the bottom, stacked with fluvial carryover and coarse particulate material from the LGM and early Holocene. The upper part of the valley is covered with marine, paralic, and continental fine-grained material from the Holocene, which frames the shallow-buried palaeochannel with 20 m to 50 m depth. Palaeochannels are rich in underground water, and an important water source for the areas of alluvial plain and shallow continental shelf.

Key words: shallow-buried palaeochannel, study progress, the Last Gracial Maximum(LGM), underground water