Human deforestation outweighed climate as factors affecting Yellow River floods and erosion on the Chinese Loess Plateau since the 10th century

Yan, Xinwei; Liu, Jianbao; Rühland, Kathleen M.; Dong, Haoran; He, Jinna; Smol, John P.

doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2022.107796

Cited by 20 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 89 publications

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“…While the latter is likely to be caused by both the “blocking effect” and the “leading effect” of the Liupan Mountains, namely, Liupan Mountains, are high enough to block the east wind and also westerly transport of MPs, and due to the mountains running north–south, it performs the northerly transport of MPs. The directed diffusion of MPs from Mount Taibai may exacerbate the accumulation of MPs and thus cause consistent environmental risks in the Liupan Mountains, a high-altitude mountainous area of the Loess Plateau in China and one of the most vulnerable ecosystems in the world . Additionally, the obtained results also suggest Qinling Mountains as a frequent exposure (B-level) under the “return flow effect,” which is also consistent with the above results on source analysis that MPs can be resuspended in Mount Taibai and migrate within this ecosystem.…”

Section: Results and Discussionsupporting

confidence: 86%

“…The directed diffusion of MPs from Mount Taibai may exacerbate the accumulation of MPs and thus cause consistent environmental risks in the Liupan Mountains, a high-altitude mountainous area of the Loess Plateau in China and one of the most vulnerable ecosystems in the world. 43 Additionally, the obtained results also suggest Qinling Mountains as a frequent exposure (B-level) under the "return flow effect," 44 which is also consistent with the above results on source analysis that MPs can be resuspended in Mount Taibai and migrate within this ecosystem. Thereby, it confirms MPs accumulation and constant negative impacts in this mountainous area.…”

Section: Transport Prediction Of Atmospheric Mpssupporting

confidence: 81%

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Remote Mountainous Area Inevitably Becomes Temporal Sink for Microplastics Driven by Atmospheric Transport

Wei,

Yu,

Cao

et al. 2024

Environ. Sci. Technol.

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Atmospheric transport drives the widespread distribution of microplastic (MP) in various ecosystems, posing a growing potential threat to environmental safety and human health. Understanding the source and fate of atmospheric MPs is thus crucial to constrain MP's widespread exposure. However, the source−sink dynamics of atmospheric MPs, especially in remote areas, are uncertain, and their transport routes have yet to be identified. Here, we conducted a 13-month monitoring of the atmospheric MPs in the uninhabited area of Mount Taibai, estimated the potential risk of MP exposure to the environment, and modeled the MP trajectory to analyze their transportation. We first found that as many as 15 polymer types of MPs, whose shapes mainly include fiber, fragments, films, and granules, maintained abundance (0.7 and 0.3 particle/m 3 for PM 10 and PM 2.5 , respectively) in the mountain atmosphere at respirable sizes. It is worth noting that the risk assessment results that comprehensively consider the influences of abundance and morphological characteristics suggest that the exposure level of MPs exhibits a risk even in this remote mountainous area that is not disturbed by frequent human activities. Backward trajectories revealed the likely source of MPs in the sparsely populated Liupan Mountains and Qinling Mountains of shortrange transport. Further, polymer characteristics of MPs and airflow-based source analysis indicated the emission source of MPs in southern Xianyang in a longer-range transport. MPs were directionally transported to Mount Taibai through atmospheric transport under the premise of stable climate and geographical conditions. These suggest that MPs inevitably occur in remote mountainous areas driven by atmospheric transport, and the mountainous areas are persistently bearing the environmental impact of MP exposure. This study reveals the risk impacts of MP exposure and the transport dynamics of atmospheric MPs in a mountain ecosystem.

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Section: Results and Discussionsupporting

confidence: 86%

Section: Transport Prediction Of Atmospheric Mpssupporting

confidence: 81%

Remote Mountainous Area Inevitably Becomes Temporal Sink for Microplastics Driven by Atmospheric Transport

Wei,

Yu,

Cao

et al. 2024

Environ. Sci. Technol.

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“…The effect of land use is actually the influence of human activity-induced changes in land use types on soil erosion. Previous studies [ 63 , 64 ] pointed out that human activities have a greater impact than climate change. We should strengthen the management of soil erosion.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dynamic analysis of soil erosion in the affected area of the lower Yellow River based on RUSLE model

Zhang,

Liu

et al. 2024

Heliyon

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“…The partial or complete loss of vegetation cover triggers an increase in runoff, frequency, and magnitude of flood events, soil vulnerability to water erosion, and increased sedimentation rates in river channels or reservoirs (Yan et al, 2022;Riquetti et al, 2023).…”

Section: Perigo De Ocorrência De Incêndios Nas áReas De Abastecimento...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Fire danger in the supply areas of hydroelectric reservoirs under the restoration process in the south of Minas Gerais, Brazil

Torres,

Pancieri,

Santana Neto

et al. 2024

RARV

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The partial or complete loss of vegetation cover triggers an increase in surface runoff, erosion, and sedimentation of water bodies, including reservoirs for hydroelectric power generation, reducing their life expectancy. To control or mitigate this issue, ecological restoration interventions should prioritize the recovery of areas most vulnerable to these processes, such as springs. Conversely, wildfires cause damage to vegetation cover and hinder ecological restoration and/or natural regeneration processes. Therefore, this study aimed to identify - with the aid of Geographic Information Systems - the temporal and spatial likelihood of fire occurrences in spring recharge areas undergoing ecological restoration and contributing to hydroelectric reservoirs in southern Minas Gerais, Brazil. The findings indicated that the months with the highest probability of wildfire occurrences were August and September (accounting for 66% of cases), requiring increased attention to prevention efforts. Furthermore, locations most susceptible to fires (steeper slopes, more flammable vegetation, and higher anthropogenic use) should be treated as priorities for both prevention and ecological restoration actions.

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Human deforestation outweighed climate as factors affecting Yellow River floods and erosion on the Chinese Loess Plateau since the 10th century

Cited by 20 publications

References 89 publications

Remote Mountainous Area Inevitably Becomes Temporal Sink for Microplastics Driven by Atmospheric Transport

Remote Mountainous Area Inevitably Becomes Temporal Sink for Microplastics Driven by Atmospheric Transport

Dynamic analysis of soil erosion in the affected area of the lower Yellow River based on RUSLE model

Fire danger in the supply areas of hydroelectric reservoirs under the restoration process in the south of Minas Gerais, Brazil

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