Changes in streamflow and sediment discharge and the response to human activities in the middle reaches of the Yellow River

Abstract. The changes in streamflow and sediment discharge in the middle reaches of the Yellow River are a focus. In this paper, based on the precipitation, streamflow and sediment discharge series data (1950–2008), the streamflow and sediment discharge variation and its impact on precipitation/response to human activities have been analysis. The results show that significant decreasing trends in annual streamflow and sediment discharge have existed since the late 1950s in the middle reaches of the Yellow River (P = 0.01). Change-point analyses further revealed that transition years existed and that abrupt decline in streamflow and sediment discharge began in 1985 and 1981, respectively, in the middle reaches of the Yellow River (P = 0.05). Adoption of conservation measures in the 1980s and 1990s corroborates the identified transition years. Double-mass curves of precipitation vs. streamflow (sediment) for the periods before and after the transition year show remarkable decreases in proportionality of streamflow (sediment) generation. Compared with the period before the transition year, cumulative streamflow and cumulative sediment discharge reduced respectively by 17.8% and 28% during 1985–2008, which was caused by human intervention, in the middle reaches of the Yellow River. It is, therefore, concluded that human activities occupied a dominant position and played a major role in the streamflow and sediment discharge reduction in the middle reaches of the Yellow River.

[1]  T. A. Buishand,et al.  SOME METHODS FOR TESTING THE HOMOGENEITY OF RAINFALL RECORDS , 1982 .

[2]  T. Oguchi,et al.  Change in riverine suspended sediment concentration in central Japan in response to late 20th century human activities , 2003 .

[3]  Zbigniew W. Kundzewicz,et al.  Detection of change in river flow using phase randomization , 2000 .

[4]  Lijuan Li,et al.  Assessing the impact of climate variability and human activities on streamflow from the Wuding River basin in China , 2007 .

[5]  S. Charles,et al.  Impacts of climate variability on stream‐flow in the Yellow River , 2007 .

[6]  Lee Hsiao-tseng.  Soil conservation in China's Loess Plateau , 1984 .

[7]  Sheng Yue,et al.  A comparison of the power of the t test, Mann-Kendall and bootstrap tests for trend detection / Une comparaison de la puissance des tests t de Student, de Mann-Kendall et du bootstrap pour la détection de tendance , 2004 .

[8]  Arjun K. Gupta,et al.  Parametric Statistical Change Point Analysis , 2000 .

[9]  Baoyuan Liu,et al.  Discharge and sediment measurements at the outlet of a watershed on the Loess plateau of China , 2003 .

[10]  Yan Wang,et al.  Stepwise decreases of the Huanghe (Yellow River) sediment load (1950–2005): Impacts of climate change and human activities , 2007 .

[11]  L. Changming.  Causal Analysis on Actual Water Flow Reduction in the Mainstream of the Yellow River , 2004 .

[12]  Hans von Storch,et al.  Monte Carlo experiments on the effect of serial correlation on the Mann-Kendall test of trend , 1992 .

[13]  X. Jiong-xin.  Sediment Flux to the Sea as Influenced by Changing Human Activities and Precipitation: Example of the Yellow River, China , 2003, Environmental management.

[14]  A. Pettitt.  A Non‐Parametric Approach to the Change‐Point Problem , 1979 .

[15]  Liansheng Yu.  The Huanghe (Yellow) River: Recent changes and its countermeasures , 2006 .

[16]  T. McVicar,et al.  Analysis of the impact of conservation measures on stream flow regime in catchments of the Loess Plateau, China , 2007 .

[17]  C. F. Merriam.  A comprehensive study of the rainfall on the Susquehanna Valley , 1937 .

[18]  D. G. Watts,et al.  Spectral analysis and its applications , 1968 .

[19]  Wang Fei.  Theory of Double Mass Curves and Its Applications in Hydrology and Meteorology , 2010 .

[20]  Ran Da-chuan.  Water and Sediment Variation and Ecological Protection Measures in the Middle Reach of the Yellow River , 2006 .

[21]  R. Hirsch,et al.  Techniques of trend analysis for monthly water quality data , 1982 .

[22]  Fei Wang,et al.  Trend and change-point analyses of streamflow and sediment discharge in the Yellow River during 1950–2005 , 2010 .

[23]  H. Storch,et al.  Analysis of Climate Variability , 1995 .

[24]  Guangqian Wang,et al.  Sedimentation problems and management strategies of Sanmenxia Reservoir, Yellow River, China , 2005 .

[25]  J. K. Searcy,et al.  Double-Mass Curves , 1960 .

[26]  Q. Shao,et al.  Changes in stream flow regime in headwater catchments of the Yellow River basin since the 1950s , 2007 .

[27]  Lu Zhang,et al.  Hydrological responses to conservation practices in a catchment of the Loess Plateau, China , 2004 .

[28]  D. Burn,et al.  Detection of hydrologic trends and variability , 2002 .

[29]  H. B. Mann.  Nonparametric Tests Against Trend , 1945 .

[30]  S. Yue,et al.  Canadian streamflow trend detection: impacts of serial and cross-correlation , 2003 .