Human disturbances dominated the unprecedentedly high frequency of Yellow River flood over the last millennium

Abstract

A warming climate may increase flood hazard through boosting the global hydrological cycle. However, human impact through modifications to the river and its catchment is not well quantified. Here, we show a 12,000-year-long record of Yellow River flood events by synthesizing sedimentary and documentary data of levee overtops and breaches. Our result reveals that flood events in the Yellow River basin became almost an order of magnitude more frequent during the last millennium than the middle Holocene and 81 ± 6% of the increased flood frequency can be ascribed to anthropogenic disturbances. Our findings not only shed light on the long-term dynamics of flood hazards in this world’s most sediment-laden river but also inform policy of sustainable management of large rivers under anthropogenic stress elsewhere.

Holocene overflow events of the lower Yellow River recorded in Huangdun ancient lake, northern Jiangsu Plain, China

“…The abundance of EM3 reached a maximum and then decreased rapidly until the present day. This result is consistent with the increased flood frequency from ad 1841 to 1851 (Yu et al, 2023). In fact, dredging of the Yellow River during the Ming and Qing Dynasties was only effective in the short term.…”

“…Thereafter for hundreds of years, nomadic tribes occupied the Loess Plateau, resulting in an increase in vegetation coverage (Mostern, 2016). In addition, with stable monsoon precipitation, the probability of flooding in the lower Yellow River was relatively low (Yu et al, 2023). Therefore, after this stage until ~ ad 1048 (4.68 m), the Huangdun area was less affected by overflows of the lower Yellow River.…”

“…Why did those flood pathways appear? Yu et al (2023) found that anthropogenic disturbances caused severe damage to landforms in the middle Yellow River Basin, becoming the dominant factor in triggering Yellow River floods since 500 BC. In addition, the EASMP was at a high level during this period (Figure 8k) (Chen et al, 2015).…”

Ecological restoration success on the Loess Plateau of China: A qualitative and quantitative exploration based on rephotography

“…The scientific reports of GFGP may have reached its peak as shown in literature written in Chinese. However, we can still see an increase in publication volume in such research published in English, which generally focus on mechanism understanding, side effects (e.g., soil water depletion or soil desiccation (Wu et al, 2020; Zhu et al, 2019)) and its counter measures (Cao et al, 2018; Guo et al, 2023) as well as future sustainable development strategies (Jia et al, 2020; Naeem et al, 2021; Wu et al, 2020; Yu et al, 2023) from systematic perspectives.…”

“…and its counter measures (Cao et al, 2018;Guo et al, 2023) as well as future sustainable development strategies (Jia et al, 2020;Naeem et al, 2021;Wu et al, 2020;Yu et al, 2023) from systematic perspectives.…”