Man's Influence on the Erosion and Transport of Sediment by Asian Rivers: The Yellow River (Huanghe) Example

Abstract

During the Holocene sediment input from the Yellow River to the Yellow Sea and adjacent areas has amounted to about 3000 km3. Detailed records from river gauging stations over the past 70 yrs, together with estimates based on earlier historic records, suggest that the river has contributed 2300 km3 of sediment during the last 2300 yrs, an average discharge of 1 km3/yr (1 .times. 109 t/yr). Prior to extensive agricultural use of the loess plateau in northern China (beginning about 200 BC), therefore, the river''s load must have been about 0.1 km3/yr, an order of magnitude lower than that at present. A broad delta 20 m below sea level suggests that early Holocene rates were higher than the pre-agricultural average and therefore that middle Holocene loads were low.