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Peer-reviewedCC BYJournal of Hydrology: Regional Studies

Shifting water-sediment relationship under the influence of extensive soil conservation in the Yellow River Basin

  • Haiyan Yang1
  • Taihua Wang1
  • Dawen Yang2
  • Haidong Gao3
  • Zihan Yan1
  • Chuandong Wu1
  • Min Chen1
  • Lihua Tang1
  • Ping Li4
4 affiliations
  1. 1State Key Laboratory of Hydroscience and Engineering, Department of Hydraulic Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China
  2. 2State Key Laboratory of Hydroscience and Engineering, Department of Hydraulic Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China; Corresponding author.
  3. 3State Key Laboratory of Eco-Hydraulics in Northwest Arid Region of China, Xi’an University of Technology, Xi’an, Shaanxi, 710048, China
  4. 4State Key Laboratory of Hydroscience and Engineering, Department of Hydraulic Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China; College of Water Resources and Architectural Engineering, Northwest A&F University, 22 Xinong Road, Yangling, 712100, China
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Abstract

Study region: The Yellow River Basin (YRB), China, a region characterized by a critical imbalance between scarce water resources and high sediment load. Study focus: Although massive anthropogenic interventions have significantly altered the long-standing water-sediment relationship in the YRB, the spatiotemporal details of these shifts remain underexplored. To address this gap, this study employs a distributed model to conduct a basin-wide simulation of hydro-sediment processes from 1961 to 2024, aiming to quantify the driving mechanisms of sediment regime changes. New hydrological insights for the region: A distinct spatial mismatch exists between runoff and sediment sources. While runoff exhibited a “decrease-then-increase” pattern, soil erosion intensity consistently declined by 48.9% (1981–2000) and 71.8% (2001–2024) from the 1961–1980 baseline. Erosion decreased exponentially with hillslope conservation area, and check dams intercepted 4.52 billion m³ of sediment. Crucially, attribution analysis revealed significant spatial heterogeneity: climate change dominated sediment variations in the source region, large reservoirs in the upper reaches, and soil conservation measures in the middle-lower reaches. At Huayuankou, hillslope measures (-48.1%), check dams (-41.6%), and reservoirs (-23.0%) dominated sediment reduction, overwhelmingly offsetting the climate-induced increase (+12.7%).

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Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@article{yang2026shifting,
  title = {{Shifting water-sediment relationship under the influence of extensive soil conservation in the Yellow River Basin}},
  author = {Haiyan Yang and Taihua Wang and Dawen Yang and Haidong Gao and Zihan Yan and Chuandong Wu and Min Chen and Lihua Tang and Ping Li},
  journal = {Journal of Hydrology: Regional Studies},
  year = {2026},
  month = oct,
  doi = {10.1016/j.ejrh.2026.104133},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejrh.2026.104133},
  note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY  - JOUR
TI  - Shifting water-sediment relationship under the influence of extensive soil conservation in the Yellow River Basin
AU  - Haiyan Yang
AU  - Taihua Wang
AU  - Dawen Yang
AU  - Haidong Gao
AU  - Zihan Yan
AU  - Chuandong Wu
AU  - Min Chen
AU  - Lihua Tang
AU  - Ping Li
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/30
JO  - Journal of Hydrology: Regional Studies
DO  - 10.1016/j.ejrh.2026.104133
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejrh.2026.104133
AB  - Study region: The Yellow River Basin (YRB), China, a region characterized by a critical imbalance between scarce water resources and high sediment load. Study focus: Although massive anthropogenic interventions have significantly altered the long-standing water-sediment relationship in the YRB, the spatiotemporal details of these shifts remain underexplored. To address this gap, this study employs a distributed model to conduct a basin-wide simulation of hydro-sediment processes from 1961 to 2024, aiming to quantify the driving mechanisms of sediment regime changes. New hydrological insights for the region: A distinct spatial mismatch exists between runoff and sediment sources. While runoff exhibited a “decrease-then-increase” pattern, soil erosion intensity consistently declined by 48.9% (1981–2000) and 71.8% (2001–2024) from the 1961–1980 baseline. Erosion decreased exponentially with hillslope conservation area, and check dams intercepted 4.52 billion m³ of sediment. Crucially, attribution analysis revealed significant spatial heterogeneity: climate change dominated sediment variations in the source region, large reservoirs in the upper reaches, and soil conservation measures in the middle-lower reaches. At Huayuankou, hillslope measures (-48.1%), check dams (-41.6%), and reservoirs (-23.0%) dominated sediment reduction, overwhelmingly offsetting the climate-induced increase (+12.7%).
SN  - 2214-5818
ER  -