Sediment load reduction in Chinese rivers

Cheng LIU, Jueyi SUI, and Zhao-Yin WANG

Abstract

In this paper, the changes in the annual runoff and sediment transport have been assessed by using the long term observation data from 10 gauging stations on 10 large rivers across China from far north to far south. It is found that the annual sediment yield has generally had a decreasing trend in the past half century. According to the changes in annual runoff and the sediment yield per area, rivers in China can be classified into the following three groups: 1) rivers with decreasing annual sediment transport and stable runoff; 2) rivers with both decreasing annual sediment transport and runoff and 3) rivers with greatly reduced annual sediment transport and decreasing annual runoff. The results indicate that, in all southern rivers (to the south of the Huaihe River including the Huaihe River), there has been little change in average annual runoff but a dramatic decrease in annual sediment transport. In the northern rivers, however, both the annual sediment yield and the runoff show significant evidence of reduction.  To further investigate the recent changes in annual runoff and sediment transport, the short-term observation data from these 10 gauging stations in the recent 10 years have been assessed. Results show that both the annual sediment transport and the runoff have decreased significantly in the northern rivers in the past 10 years. Using the Yellow River at the Lijin Station as an example, the average annual runoff for the last 10 years is only 1/3 of the long term average value and the average annual sediment yield of the last 10 years is only 1/4 of the long term average value. More unusually, in the Yongding River the annual sediment yield has approached zero and the runoff has decreased significantly. In addition, the impacts of human activities on the changes in both runoff and sediment transport have been discussed.

Key Words: China, Runoff, Sediment load, Large rivers, Sediment yield, Yangtze River, Yellow River