| Title | Reduced sediment transport in the Yellow River due to anthropogenic changes |
| Authors | Wang, Shuai Fu, Bojie Piao, Shilong Lu, Yihe Ciais, Philippe Feng, Xiaoming Wang, Yafeng |
| Affiliation | Chinese Acad Sci, Res Ctr Ecoenvironm Sci, State Key Lab Urban & Reg Ecol, Beijing 100085, Peoples R China. Joint Ctr Global Change Studies, Beijing 100875, Peoples R China. Peking Univ, Coll Urban & Environm Sci, Beijing 100871, Peoples R China. Chinese Acad Sci, Inst Tibetan Plateau Res, Lab Alpine Ecol & Biodivers, Beijing 100101, Peoples R China. CEA CNRS UVSQ, Lab Sci Climat & Environm, F-91191 Gif Sur Yvette, France. |
| Keywords | LOESS PLATEAU SOIL-EROSION CHINA BASIN WATER FLUX SEQUESTRATION RESTORATION ECOSYSTEMS DISCHARGE |
| Issue Date | 2016 |
| Publisher | NATURE GEOSCIENCE |
| Citation | NATURE GEOSCIENCE.2016,9,(1),38-+. |
| Abstract | The erosion, transport and redeposition of sediments shape the Earth's surface, and affect the structure and function of ecosystems and society(1,2). The Yellow River was once the world's largest carrier of fluvial sediment, but its sediment load has decreased by approximately 90% over the past 60 years(3). The decline in sediment load is due to changes in water discharge and sediment concentration, which are both influenced by regional climate change and human activities. Here we use an attribution approach to analyse 60 years of runoff and sediment load observations from the traverse of the Yellow River over China's Loess Plateau - the source of nearly 90% of its sediment load. We find that landscape engineering, terracing and the construction of check dams and reservoirs were the primary factors driving reduction in sediment load from the 1970s to 1990s, but large-scale vegetation restoration projects have also reduced soil erosion from the 1990s onwards. We suggest that, as the ability of existing dams and reservoirs to trap sediments declines in the future, erosion rates on the Loess Plateau will increasingly control the Yellow River's sediment load. |
| URI | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11897/439026 |
| ISSN | 1752-0894 |
| DOI | 10.1038/NGEO2602 |
| Indexed | SCI(E) |
| Appears in Collections: | 城市与环境学院 |
