Changes in sediment yield of the Yellow River basin of China during the Holocene

Shi, Changxing; Zhang, Dian; Lianyuan, You

doi:10.1016/s0169-555x(02)00080-6

Cited by 89 publications

(71 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…1a) has a long and complicated history with N 1000 years of human settlement (Shi et al, 2002;Syvitski and Kettner, 2011). Yet, particularly over the past five decades, intensive human activity with the primary purpose of alleviating severe top-soil erosion, has shaped the ecosystem services (ES, i.e., benefits people obtain from ecosystems, Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, 2005;Carpenter et al, 2006) provided by catchments in the Loess Plateau (Mu et al, 2007).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The role of climatic and anthropogenic stresses on long-term runoff reduction from the Loess Plateau, China

Feng

Cheng

et al. 2016

Science of The Total Environment

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Human intervention has strongly altered patterns of river runoff. Yet, few studies have addressed the complexity and nonlinearity of the anthropogenic stresses on runoff or their interaction with climate. We study the Loess Plateau in China, whose river runoff contributes 65% of the discharge to the middle reach of the Yellow River; this landscape has been shaped by human activity and is intensively managed. Our purpose is to characterize the interactive roles of climate and human activities in defining river runoff from the Loess Plateau. Applying a transient analysis to discover the time-varying runoff trend and impact factors, we found that the average runoff in the Loess Plateau decreased continuously during the period 1961-2009 (average rate of − 0.9 mm year −1 , P b 0.001). This long-term decrease in runoff mainly occurred in three stages, with transitions in 1970, 1981 and 1996. Reduced precipitation was the main reason for the decrease in runoff over the entire study period. However, human intervention played a dominant role in creating the transition points. Water yield (i.e., the ratio of runoff to precipitation) decreased following each anthropogenic transition, causing a 56% reduction in available freshwater resources during the period 1961-2009. These findings highlight the need for studies that address the dynamic and nonlinear processes controlling the availability of freshwater resources in the light of anthropogenic influences applied under a changing climate. Such studies are essential if we are to meet the human water demand in the Loess Plateau region.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The role of climatic and anthropogenic stresses on long-term runoff reduction from the Loess Plateau, China

Feng

Cheng

et al. 2016

Science of The Total Environment

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“…Pervasive sediment erosion, transport, and deposition on the earth surface are the main surficial processes leading to landform changes and natural disasters (Shi et al 2002). Sediment deposition usually results in riverbed elevation, the loss of flood delivery capacity of river channels, and other environmental problems (Sundborg and Rapp 1986;Mahmood 1987;Hu et al 1998;Yin and Li 2001;Shi et al 2002).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mineral compositions and sources of the riverbed sediment in the desert channel of Yellow River

Jia

Wang

2010

Environ Monit Assess

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The Yellow River flows through an extensive, aeolian desert area and extends from Xiaheyan, Ningxia Province, to Toudaoguai, Inner Mongolia Province, with a total length of 1,000 km. Due to the construction and operation of large reservoirs in the upstream of the Yellow River, most water and sediment from upstream were stored in these reservoirs, which leads to the declining flow in the desert channel that has no capability to scour large amount of input of desert sands from the desert regions. By analyzing and comparing the spatial distribution of weight percent of mineral compositions between sediment sources and riverbed sediment of the main tributaries and the desert channel of the Yellow River, we concluded that the coarse sediment deposited in the desert channel of the Yellow River were mostly controlled by the local sediment sources. The analyzed results of the Quartz-Feldspar-Mica (QFM) triangular diagram and the R-factor models of the coarse sediment in the Gansu reach and the desert channel of the Yellow River further confirm that the Ningxia Hedong desert and the Inner Mongolian Wulanbuhe and Kubuqi deserts are the main provenances of the coarse sediment in the desert channel of the Yellow River. Due to the higher fluidity of the fine sediment, they are mainly contributed by the local sediment sources and the tributaries that originated from the loess area of the upper reach of the Yellow River.

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“…The erosion intensity throughout history was no doubt much lower than that at present in the Loess Plateau, with increasingly serious erosion resulting from human destruction of vegetation (Cai, 2001;Shi et al, 2002;Shi and Shao, 2000). Field plot experiments showed that human destruction of vegetation can happen over a short period or an extremely short period; however, the aggravation of human-induced soil erosion would be several hundred times more serious than natural erosion (Zheng, 2006;Zheng et al, 2005).…”

Section: Phases Of Soil Erosion Aggravationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It has created the broad North China Plain, which is the land that nurtured Chinese civilization throughout history. The sediment load of the Yellow River was estimated to be approximately 0.8 Â 10 9 tÁyr À1 throughout the Holocene, whereas it increased to approximately 1.6 Â 10 9 tÁyr À1 between the 1930s and 1950s (Shi et al, 2002;Shi and Shao, 2000). Research showed that 90% of the sediment load was carried from the Loess Plateau (640,000 km 2 ), and 41% of the total sediment load in recent decades was added due to land use intensification driven by increasing population (Derbyshire et al, 2000;Li, 2003;Shi et al, 2002).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Did streamflow or suspended sediment concentration changes reduce sediment load in the middle reaches of the Yellow River?

Zhang

et al. 2017

Journal of Hydrology

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a b s t r a c tThe continuous ecological restoration of the Loess Plateau, which aims to reduce the sediment entering into the Yellow River, is known throughout the world for two strategies: the integrated soil conservation project that began in the 1970s, and the ''Grain for Green" project that began in the 1990s. However, the topic of whether the muddy water in the middle Yellow River run clearer remains debatable, and, in fact, response to the topic is reasonably well documented in regard to hydrological changes in the sediment source area. Six sub-catchments nested in the Beiluo River basin -one of the major sediment sources for the Yellow River -were selected, with data series ranging from 1957 to 2009. The Mann-Kendall and Pettitt tests were used for trend detection. A simple method was developed based on the distribution of suspended sediment concentration (SSC) versus water discharge. Using this method, we evaluated the quantities of sediment yield reduction attributed to streamflow and SSC changes due to the two strategies.The results showed that annual sediment yield in 5 out of 6 stations significantly decreased, with rates varying from À4 to À217 tÁkm À2 Áyr À1 . Significant decreases in daily and event streamflow and suspended sediment concentration were identified, especially at a high SSC (top 1-5%). During the integrated soil conservation period, the sediment yield was reduced mainly by decreases in high flow and high SSC conditions. In contrast, during the ''Grain for Green" period, sediment yield was reduced due to decreases in streamflow and SSC at all magnitudes. It was concluded that rainfall-sediment load dynamics have changed in the context of ecological restoration. Changes in both streamflow and the SSC-water discharge relationship induced the sediment yield reduction over time; in other words, the streamflow in the middle reaches of Yellow River became clearer during periods of ecological restoration. Moreover, the increased annual sediment yield at the Zhangcunyi station exposed a risk of increased erosion in areas where forests had been well preserved.

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Changes in sediment yield of the Yellow River basin of China during the Holocene

Cited by 89 publications

References 15 publications

The role of climatic and anthropogenic stresses on long-term runoff reduction from the Loess Plateau, China

The role of climatic and anthropogenic stresses on long-term runoff reduction from the Loess Plateau, China

Mineral compositions and sources of the riverbed sediment in the desert channel of Yellow River

Did streamflow or suspended sediment concentration changes reduce sediment load in the middle reaches of the Yellow River?

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