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Ecological protection and high-quality development in the Yellow River Basin has become a major national strategy, and the coupling coordination of economic growth, industrial development and ecology in this area is becoming a research hot spot. This paper analyzed the coupling coordination mechanism of economic growth, industrial development and ecology in the Yellow River Basin and constructed an evaluation index system of coupling coordination degree. Using the coupling coordination model, the spatial autocorrelation model and grey relational model, this paper analyzed the space differences and time differences of the coupling coordination degree of 62 cities in the Yellow River Basin and their driving factors from 2012 to 2018, And the GM (1, 1) gray prediction method was used to predict the coupling coordination degree in the short term. The results showed that：① The overall level of economic growth, industrial development and ecology in the Yellow River Basin had shown a steady trend, and there were no significant differences in the speed of development. However, the coupling coordination of them was seriously out of coordination, and the coupling coordination of ecological protection and high-quality development in the Yellow River Basin had not yet reached a coordinated level,② The coupling coordination degree demonstrated significant global and local spatial autocorrelation features. The global spatial auto-correlation was positive and the convergence features were obvious. (3) The forecast results showed that the coupling coordination degree remained generally stable and coordination had not been reached during the forecast period in this area. The rate of improvement was relatively slow. Finally, a support system incorporating organizational guarantee, spatial governance, policy guarantee and institutional mechanism was established for economic growth and ecological protection in the Yellow River Basin. It is expected that this paper can provide a theoretical basis and lay a certain scientific decision-making foundation for the ecological protection and high-quality development in the Yellow River Basin, [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The late 19th century is widely known as the period of modernization in China. But it was also the time that witnessed the highest frequency of flooding of the Yellow River in history. Yellow River flood management, a top priority in internal affairs for the Chinese empire since antiquity, became an urgent and immediate task as well as a pivotal part of the modernization project for the Qing government in the late 19th century. As a technician deeply engaged in regulation of the Yellow River in the 1890s, the late Qing novelist Liu E 劉鶉(1857-1909) begins his celebrated The Travels of Lao Can 老殘遊記 with the theme of Yellow River floods. The flooding caused by the Yellow River breach was an unbearable trauma for Liu E, who himself was unable to effectively control the Yellow River and personally witnessed the ensuing tragedy. Prior to The Travels of Lao Can, there had never been a Chinese literary work that dealt directly with the traumatic experience of mass death. How did The Travels of Lao Can describe and deal with such trauma that had never been written about? Did the trauma caused by the flooding of the Yellow River involve a more complicated technical orientation for Liu E, who，compared with the simple bystanders of the disaster, was directly involved in river management? In the novel, what is the relationship between the recovery from this trauma and river technology? This paper sheds light on the relationship between environmental crises and the inception of national identity in late 19th and early 20th century China by examining how The Travels of Lao Can was shaped by and responded to the trauma caused by the Yellow River floods in Shandong in the year 1889. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The potential nutrient stoichiometry changes caused by trout cage aquaculture is concerned especially in oligotrophic waters. Long-term total nitrogen (N), total phosphorus (P) and N:P ratio changes in 6 cascade reservoirs with rainbow trout cage aquaculture in the oligotrophic upstream Yellow River (UYR) were studied from 2013 to 2017 in this paper. The 5-year monitoring results showed that N, P and N:P ratio levels showed no obvious long-term changes in high-altitude oligotrophic waters with rainbow trout cage aquaculture. No obvious longitudinal N, P and N:P ratio level changes were observed in the 6 cascade reservoirs from upstream Longyangxia Reservoir (LYR) to downstream Jishixia Reservoir (JSR). The increased N and P resulting from the cage aquaculture accounted only for 1.74% and 5.2% of the natural N and P levels, respectively, with a fish production of 10,000 tonnes. The upstream Yellow River remained oligotrophic and phosphorus-limited. Results in this study proved that trout cage aquaculture do not necessarily cause nitrogen, phosphorus and N:P ratio changes even in oligotrophic waters. Phosphorus should be considered first when identifying priority nitrogen and phosphorus sources and the corresponding control measures in waters with high N:P ratio. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is an obvious gap between China's current irrigation water use efficiency and the world's advanced level for that of China is only 0.50, whereas that of world's advanced level reaches 0.7-0.8. Therefore, saving water resources, improving agricultural irrigation water efficiency, and ensuring the irrigation efficiency will be a long-term strategic task in the future of China. The purpose of this paper was to make a comprehensive evaluation for water use efficiency of Yellow River irrigation area based on flow-tracing and multiple weights method. In order to make a good comprehensive evaluation for water using efficiency, an open index-evaluation system including 19 deterministic index and 3 sub-systems based on irrigation flow-tracing method. Then, the improved fuzzy evaluation model was constructed based on multiple layer-weight determination method by making use of multi-objective and multi-level system. In the first layer (input layer), the index weight was confirmed by calculating entropy-weight-vector, and in the second layer (criterion layer), the sub-system weight was confirmed by the entropy-weight-vector method, equal-weight method and experience weight method, respectively for multi-layer weights. Finally, obtaining data and comparing different weights from the evaluation results was carried out by the fuzzy evaluation model. The paper took Sanyizhai Irrigation Area in lower reaches of the Yellow River as a case study. Sanyizhai Irrigation Area is located in the eastern plain of Henan Province (34°52N, 144°44E), north of the Yellow River. Sanyizhai Irrigation Area was founded in 1958, and it involves 18 counties scattered in Kaifeng, Shangqiu and Heze in Henan Province, and Shandong Provinces as well. Up to now, the water-diverting capacity of Sanyizhai Irrigation Area is about 150 m3/s, and irrigation area covers 9 counties(districts) mainly in the eastern part of Henan province, that is: Kaifeng, Lankao and Qi counties of Kaifeng City, Minquan County, Ningling County, Suiyang District, Liangyuan District, Sui County and Yucheng County of Shangqiu City respectively. The total land area of Sanyizhai Irrigation Area reaches 4 344.2 km2 and the total cultivated area is 2 701.42 km2. The paper took 10 years data from 2005 to 2014 of Sanyizhai Irrigation Area as a case study to make a comprehensive evaluation for water use efficiency. The 3 kinds of weight was used for the calculation. The results showed that: the first entropy-weight-vector weight was 0.307, 0.348, 0.345, the second equal-weight was 0.333, 0.333, 0.334, and the third subjective weight was 0.400, 0.200, 0.400. The evaluation result presented a general identical trend and showed that weight-influence was very limited for the evaluation result. According to the evaluation result, the irrigation water effect in 2013 was optimal among 10 years with average value 0.993 by comprehensive evaluation. Meanwhile, this evaluation results were in conformity with the actual situation of Sanyizhai Irrigation Area. In 2013 the rainfall and groundwater is relatively small, whereas the practical diverted irrigation intake and irrigation area has kept high level, which has ensured irrigation effect of and crop-harvest. According to the evaluation value of second layer, the dynamic variation process about engineering factors and management factors could be seen clearly, which showed that it kept a low-level development before 2007 and entered into a higher level development after 2009, so it could help us find the existing problems in irrigation process and provides data basis and technical support for the scientific planning and sustainable development of Yellow River Irrigation Area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is important to manage water resources of the upper Yellow River basin for the new Silk Road economic belt. In recent decades, under the combined human activities and influence of climate, the hydrologic regime of the upper Yellow River basin shows remarkable variations that have caused many issues. So potential human indicated influence has been drawing increasing attention from hydrologists and local governments. The aim of this study is to determine the changes in the hydrological characteristic parameters and mean annual runoff series of the upper Yellow River basin. This paper took the representative Lanzhou Station in the upstream Yellow River as an example, used the TFPW-MK mutation test and rank sum test to analyze the location of the variation points of hydrological series. By contrasting two different analysis results between natural and measured river runoff series, the impacts of human activities on the long-term hydrological regime were investigated. The variation range of hydrological ecological indexes before and after variation were analyzed by the method of indicators of hydrologic alteration (IHA). The results show: a) the hydrological series of Lanzhou Station is a significant decreasing trend can be observed in the natural stream flow series in 1985 with a high degree of hydrological variability, while human activities play an important role; b) various ecological indicators have changed in different degrees that have caused the deterioration of ecological conditions around 1985; and c) continuous decreasing stream flow in the upper Yellow River basin will trigger serious shortages of fresh water in the future, which may challenge the sustainability and safety of water resource development in the river basin, and should be paid great attention before 2020. Variation analysis and diagnosis of eco-hydrological indexes in the upper reaches of the Yellow River can provide a basis for the development, utilization, and protection of water resources in this area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From AD 1048 to 1128, Yellow River flooding killed over a million people, left many more homeless and destitute, and turned parts of the once fertile North China Plain into a silted-up agricultural wasteland. Brought on in part by climate change and the Northern Song dynasty’s (AD 960–1127) mismanagement of the environment, the Yellow River floods likely hastened the collapse of the Northern Song dynasty. Despite the magnitude of this flood event, no sedimentary deposits have yet been linked to these historically recorded floods. In this research paper, we provide archaeological, sedimentary, and radiocarbon evidence of the AD 1048–1128 Yellow River floods at the Dazhanglongcun, Xidacheng, and Daguxiancun sites in Neihuang County, Henan Province. Based on our data, we argue that the AD 1048–1128 Yellow River floods deposited over 5 m of alluvium on villages in the North China Plain, radically changing both the physical and political landscape of Northern Song dynasty China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Radioactive tracer techniques may be useful for assessing water transport and the overall effects of concurrent biogeochemical processes in river‐reservoir systems. In this study, we show that radium isotopes can assess the hydrodynamics and sediment/nutrient retention in the Xiaolangdi Reservoir, the largest impoundment along the Yellow River, China. Activity ratios of 224Ra/226Ra and 223Ra/226Ra were used for water mass age calculations in the riverine, transition, and lentic reaches of the reservoir. Water ages were combined with the length scale of three river‐reservoir zones to determine water transport rates of 3.6 ± 1.2, 1.3 ± 0.3, and 0.16 ± 0.14 km/day, respectively. Radium ages were also used to quantify the net retention of sediment and nutrients in different parts of the river‐reservoir system. Suspended sediment was removed at a rate of 1.4 ± 0.6 g/m3/day, mainly in the riverine zone. Nutrient dynamics were more complicated, with addition or removal at different rates within the three zones. Plain Language Summary: This paper should be of interest to fluvial aquatic scientists and resource managers. Typically, numerical models have been used to estimate reservoir hydrodynamics, and associated biogeochemical processes are investigated separately. Here for the first time, we explore the validity of using radium isotope tracers to assess water age distributions in the Xiaolangdi Reservoir, the largest impoundment along the Yellow River (China). Radium ages were then used to quantitatively evaluate the net retentions of suspended sediments and nutrients within the reservoir. The technique is easy to conduct at relatively low cost and allows one to assess the overall effect of synchronized biogeochemical processes. Key Points: Ra‐age technique is suitable for hydrodynamic assessments in river‐reservoir systems where model assumptions are metSediment and nutrient retentions may be quantified using Ra water agesNutrients are added and/or removed at different rates within three identified zones of the reservoir [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the mechanical behavior of two innovative prestressed composite linings in shield tunnels for water conveyance. The Yellow River Crossing Tunnel of the Middle Route Project of the South-to-North Water Division Project (SNWD) is adopted in this study as a case. Three-dimensional finite element models are established to analyse the stress distribution and deformation feature of the prestressed composite lining when the tunnel is under the completed segment assembly condition (CSAC), the completed cable tension condition (CCTC) and the design water pressure condition (DWPC). The calculation and analysis results reveal that the prestressed composite lining with rebars (Model R) has an obviously combined bearing capacity, and the rebar is the key factor influencing the capacity. The prestressed composite lining with membranes (Model M) has a relatively separated bearing capacity, because the membrane can play a significant role in preventing stress transmission between the segmental ling and the secondary lining. Full circular compression can be realized for the secondary linings of both Model R and Model M when the tunnel is under the DWPC. However, the load bearing mechanism of Model M is more concise than that of Model R, the secondary lining of Model M is more secure than that of Model R because of the full use of prestresses and materials, and the membrane is beneficial to anti-seepage. By contrast, Model M is more suitable for the Yellow River Crossing Tunnel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Water is a major limiting factor of human survival and social economic development. Water security is also important for the ecological system. In this paper, the water security assessment index system of the Yellow River basin was developed based on three subsystems: the water resources subsystem, the water environment subsystem and the social economic subsystem. The integrated assessment of water security was developed based on the combination of set pair analysis (SPA) and fuzzy analytical hierarchy process (FAHP) as well as technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS), gray relational analysis (GRA), vague sets (VS) and matter element (ME) models. First, fuzzy cluster analysis method was used to check the consistency of all the models before and after implementing the integrated assessment. Secondly, the ranking values of four single assessment models (i.e., TOPSIS, GRA, VS and ME models) were analyzed by SPA method to get the consistency connection degree. Then FAHP was constructed to describe the relative importance of the four different single models when determining the weight coefficient in the integrated assessment model. And lastly, the integrated assessment model of water security was developed based on the ranking values and weight coefficients of the selected single assessment models. The conclusion of the developed integrated assessment model which was applied in the Yellow River basin showed that Sichuan province was at security level; Henan, Shandong, Qinghai and Shaanxi provinces were at the threshold security level; Shanxi, Gansu and Inner Mongolia provinces were at the relative insecurity level; Ningxia province was water no secure. The integrated assessment results showed that the improved integrated model presented in this paper had relatively better performance than single assessment models. The intention of this paper was to provide an integrated assessment model, propose potential countermeasures, and achieve sustainable water utilization in the Yellow River basin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For a pile foundation design, the value of proportional coefficient m to define the soil horizontal resist force is a significant parameter. However, different geological conditions and experimental environment have led to different m values. In this paper, an in situ test is firstly carried out on the horizontal bearing capacity of large-size precast square-piles. The piles deformation is then derived by using the optimization method from the measured data. Secondly a back analysis model is established to calculate the m value by using the simplex method, which reveals the evolution rule of the value of proportional coefficient m. Results show that the horizontal bearing characteristics of precast piles depend on the interaction force of piles and soils. The action mechanism of the soils around the piles is gradually developed with the increase in the concrete content. The horizontal critical load and the Eigenvalue of horizontal bearing capacity increased by 16.7% and 20%, respectively. It is also seen that the higher the content of the cement-soil around the piles and the longer the pile length, the bigger the m value obtained. The variation of the proportional coefficient m with the horizontal displacement of pile top is defined by three stages: rapid decaying stage, slow decaying stage, and balanced stage, respectively. The inverse analysis method on the proposed m value can accurately reflect the actual working state of piles and soils. In the depth of 3~18m in the west of Ji'nan, the range of m value is recommended as 4~6.58 MN·m-4. When Δ takes 12mm, the values of m are consistent with the result from the back analysis. In summary, the obtained m value can be effectively used to guide the design of enclosure structure in the super deep foundation pit in the Yellow River alluvial stratum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The hydropower system in the Upper Yellow River (UYR), one of the largest hydropower bases in China, plays a vital role in the energy structure of the Qinghai Power Grid. Due to management difficulties, there is still considerable room for improvement in the joint operation of this system. This paper presents a general LINGO-based integrated framework to study the operation of the UYR hydropower system. The framework is easy to use for operators with little experience in mathematical modeling, takes full advantage of LINGO’s capabilities (such as its solving capacity and multi-threading ability), and packs its three layers (the user layer, the coordination layer, and the base layer) together into an integrated solution that is robust and efficient and represents an effective tool for data/scenario management and analysis. The framework is general and can be easily transferred to other hydropower systems with minimal effort, and it can be extended as the base layer is enriched. The multi-objective model that represents the trade-off between power quantity (i.e., maximum energy production) and power reliability (i.e., firm output) of hydropower operation has been formulated. With equivalent transformations, the optimization problem can be solved by the nonlinear programming (NLP) solvers embedded in the LINGO software, such as the General Solver, the Multi-start Solver, and the Global Solver. Both simulation and optimization are performed to verify the model’s accuracy and to evaluate the operation of the UYR hydropower system. A total of 13 hydropower plants currently in operation are involved, including two pivotal storage reservoirs on the Yellow River, which are the Longyangxia Reservoir and the Liujiaxia Reservoir. Historical hydrological data from multiple years (2000–2010) are provided as input to the model for analysis. The results are as follows. 1) Assuming that the reservoirs are all in operation (in fact, some reservoirs were not operational or did not collect all of the relevant data during the study period), the energy production is estimated as 267.7, 357.5, and 358.3×108 KWh for the Qinghai Power Grid during dry, normal, and wet years, respectively. 2) Assuming that the hydropower system is operated jointly, the firm output can reach 3110 MW (reliability of 100%) and 3510 MW (reliability of 90%). Moreover, a decrease in energy production from the Longyangxia Reservoir can bring about a very large increase in firm output from the hydropower system. 3) The maximum energy production can reach 297.7, 363.9, and 411.4×108 KWh during dry, normal, and wet years, respectively. The trade-off curve between maximum energy production and firm output is also provided for reference. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The uplift of the Tibetan Plateau was a significant event in terms of global landforms and climate, but the exact nature of the uplift process remains contested among geologists. In the uplifted inland area of the plateau, river-terrace formation has been controlled mainly by tectonic uplift, which means that analyses of river terraces are an excellent means of investigating the uplift process. In this paper, we establish the terrace sequence of the Yellow River in the Gonghe–Guide section of the northeastern Tibetan Plateau, making use of field investigations, gravel analysis, and electron spin resonance (ESR) dating. Terraces T3–T9 of the numbered sequence formed at ~ 0.13, 0.18, 0.23, 0.41, 0.85, 0.93, and 1.32 Ma, (moving backwards in time and upwards from the valley floor), whereas terraces T11–T20 formed at ~ 1.71, 1.75, 1.88, 1.94, 2.01, 2.12, 2.23, 2.31, 2.36, and 2.47 Ma. This suggests that the Yellow River existed in Gonghe and Guide basins for at least the last 2.47 Ma. The incision rates of the Yellow River in the Gonghe–Guide section indicate that there were three distinct phases of uplift of the northeastern Tibetan Plateau, occurring at different rates, with an average uplift rate of ~ 0.26 mm/yr during the Quaternary. These results support the multi-stage uplift model, which states that the Tibetan Plateau has experienced continuous uplift since 8 Ma, but contradicts both the early uplift theory, which holds that the uplift of the Tibetan Plateau occurred mainly before the Pliocene, and the notion of a late and rapid uplift of the plateau that began at 3.6 Ma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To solve the problems of decreasing water resources from the Yellow River, the renovation project of water-saving and controlling water distribution was implemented in the Hetao Irrigation District of North China since 1999. The local hydrological cycle is expected to be influenced or changed during the past fifteen years through the project. Jiefangzha Irrigation Region, the second large partition of the Hetao Irrigation District, was selected as the typical area to explore the relationship between agricultural water consumption, water distribution, cropping pattern and changing groundwater level. In this paper, the SEBS (Surface Energy Balance System) model and the ESTARFM (Enhanced Spatial and Temporal Adaptive Reflectance Fusion Model) algorithm were applied to produce daily field-scale evapotranspiration (ET) based on Landsat and MODIS data from 2000 to 2015 at intervals. The results indicate that the cropping pattern had changed greatly, while the water table descended through the years. The total agriculture ET stayed relatively stable, with the average annual consumption of 8.9 × 10 8 m 3 . The temporal variation of agriculture ET was not obviously sensitive to the adjustment of cropping pattern. There was no significant difference in April–October ET for different crops, in spite of the clear distinction of ET in each crop-specific growing season. The spatial distribution of agricultural ET did not change in spite of the great adjustment of cropping pattern during fifteen years, which has a close inverse correlation with the groundwater depth. Groundwater depth descended from 1.76 m to 2.33 m during the operation period of the water-saving project, which might reduce the soil evaporation and have a positive effect on soil salinization effectively. Meanwhile, the net irrigation water use efficiency was improved from 0.59 to 0.66. These effects indicate the positive impact of the implemented water-saving renovation project on water management and environment. However, the actual crop coefficient K c , a decreased slightly with the gradually increasing reference evapotranspiration, indicating possible drought stress as an effect of the continuing reduction of the availability of net irrigation water and declining groundwater table. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes a very rare, hand-coloured, unusually large (over 13 m2) manuscript map of China about which, in addition to our own copy, only two more copies are known. The map shows the territory of the Ming Chinese empire (1368–1644) in the seventeenth century. It was prepared in 1691 by the famous Japanese Buddhist monk, Sōkaku (1639–1720). The paper highlights several historical and geographical details of the period and the most interesting history of the map. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: There is always uncertainty in any water quality risk assessment. A Monte Carlo simulation (MCS) is regarded as a flexible, efficient method for characterizing such uncertainties. However, the required computational effort for MCS-based risk assessment is great, particularly when the number of random variables is large and the complicated water quality models have to be calculated by a computationally expensive numerical method, such as the finite element method (FEM). To address this issue, this paper presents an improved method that incorporates an artificial neural network (ANN) into the MCS to enhance the computational efficiency of conventional risk assessment. The conventional risk assessment uses the FEM to create multiple water quality models, which can be time consuming or cumbersome. In this paper, an ANN model was used as a substitute for the iterative FEM runs, and thus, the number of water quality models that must be calculated can be dramatically reduced. A case study on the chemical oxygen demand (COD) pollution risks in the Lanzhou section of the Yellow River in China was taken as a reference. Compared with the conventional risk assessment method, the ANN-MCS-based method can save much computational effort without a loss of accuracy. The results show that the proposed method in this paper is more applicable to assess water quality risks. Because the characteristics of this ANN-MCS-based technique are quite general, it is hoped that the technique can also be applied to other MCS-based uncertainty analysis in the environmental field. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Wetlands in irrigated agricultural areas have great environmental benefits as agricultural pollution sinks; but agricultural development and water resources redistribution have caused these wetlands to diminish rapidly worldwide. This is the case in the YinNan Irrigation District (YNID) in the upper reaches of the Yellow River in China, where wetlands once flourished as the result of large amount of irrigation diversion and low irrigation efficiency. In this paper, we presented an analytical study on the impact of irrigation water saving practices on wetland distribution in YNID; we also discussed the effect of considering wetland water consumption as beneficial or efficient use on the overall water use efficiency. The study area has a maximal wetland to farmland areal ratio of 10.5% during the irrigation season due to recharges from canal seepage and field percolation; and 45% of the wetland area remains as the permanent pool area during the non-irrigation season. The observed maximum water table rise in the irrigation season is 1.5m. The current irrigation system efficiency in YNID is 0.30, which is a product of the field level efficiency of 0.68 and the conveyance efficiency of 0.44. Our analysis presented in this paper shows that improving the application efficiency to 0.90 at the field level will reduce the maximum water table rise by 0.53m, causing the wetland area to shrink by 17% and the subsequent wetland water consumption to decrease by 11%; further improving conveyance efficiency to 0.60 will reduce the maximum water table rise by 0.95m, causing the wetland area to shrink by 30% and the subsequent wetland water consumption to decrease by 19%. These results indicate that water saving at the conveyance level will have greater impact on wetland water use than that at the field level. If wetland water consumption is considered as efficient use, this fraction of the irrigation water loss becomes efficient use, which will increase the system efficiency proportionally by the percentage of wetland water consumption. The amount of wetlands, and thus additional beneficial wetland water use, is directly dependent on the amount of traditional water losses, such as wetland consumption here. The key question then becomes: where lies the optimum level or the acceptable balance between increasing efficiencies at irrigation scheme level while providing optimal beneficial use for wetlands. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

A dominant form of integrated water resources management (IWRM) assumes that existing parochial path dependencies need to be overcome to transform fragmented, contested regimes into the integrative design of IWRM. This paper is an exploratory study of stakeholder perceptions around China's Yellow River, which has been hailed as a successful case of IWRM. We find that while water reforms have ostensibly achieved a programme that adheres to the formal discourse of IWRM, subjective perceptions of the stakeholders, as revealed by the Q methodology, still display elements of a localized, fragmented narrative, requiring constant negotiation. Primary elements of the discourse include the following positions: (1) localized, contextual approaches to governance persist; (2) market efficiency and environmental protection are seen as competing goals; and (3) technology creates new gains, but constant negotiation is needed to distribute them fairly. These narratives show that rather than 'overturning' old paths, the water reforms created a deliberatory arena in which old and new ideas meld into what we refer to as a 'thick' institutional narrative. Our work provides a new perspective on policy change, as well as the persistence of institutional life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an experimental study on the microstructure and performance of stabilized earth bricks prepared from the Yellow River sediment. The sediment is modified by inorganic cementitious material, polymer bonding agent, and jute fibre. The results show that the sediment is preliminarily consolidated when the mixture ratio of activated sediment/cementitious binder/sand is 65/25/10. Compressive strength and softening coefficient of stabilized earth bricks is further improved by polymer bonding agent and jute fibre. SEM images and EDS spectral analysis indicate that there is indeed synergy among inorganic hydration products, polymer network and jute fibre to strengthen the sediment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hair, water, and sediment samples (n= 69, 27, and 24, respectively) were collected at four locations (P1–P4) along the Yellow River Gan-Ning-Meng (GNM) reaches, China. Total elemental contents of Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Pb, and Zn were determined using inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy (ICP-MS) to investigate their distribution and exposure levels in the different media. Results showed that trace metals had widely spatial variability in water and hair samples. There were the highest levels of mean concentrations of Cd, Cu, Fe, Mn, Pb, and Zn (geometric mean, GM = 0.22, 17, 65, 3.0, 4.9, and 170 μg/g, respectively) in residents' hairs living at P2. Most of the hair donors in this study showed high concentrations of Cr when compared with the literature. Differences could be distinguished for Mn (p= 0.001) and Fe (p= 0.001) with gender, and for Cr (p= 0.021), Zn (p= 0.003), and Pb (p= 0.035) with age, respectively. The pollution assessments revealed an unpolluted degree in filtered water and a moderately polluted degree for Cd in sediments at P1–P4. Correlation analysis showed significant correlations between hair and sediment samples for Cr and Mn. This paper provides basic and useful information in facing public and environmental health challenges in the GNM sections of the Yellow River. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper presents results from a 20-year (1990-2009) simulation by RegCM3 with both 45- and 15-km horizontal resolutions. The research focuses on the source region of Yellow River and its surrounding area, which is located on the northeast edge of the Tibetan Plateau with its very complex topography. Driven by the ECMWF ERA-interim reanalysis data, RegCM3 displays reasonable ability to reproduce the spatial patterns, annual cycles, and the interannual variabilities of regional surface climate, though the model shows wet and cold bias. The model's performance is more close to observation for the source region of Yellow River than the other part of the analysis region, and the application of high resolution of 15 km demonstrates better skill with less bias for mean climate and larger correlation coefficients for interannual variability at most stations. However, the high-resolution simulation shows little advantage for reproducing the variations of precipitation and surface air temperature with altitude. The RegCM3 model also generally reproduces the probability distribution functions (PDFs) of surface climate and, consequently, the occurrence of climatic extremes and extreme indices. The simulation with high resolution again proves to be more reliable to generate climatic extremes over complex terrain of the source region of the Yellow River, related to its better representation of complex terrain and local processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: In this paper, the trends of the annual streamflow and precipitation and cross correlations between them were analyzed in nine large river basins of China during 1956–2005. The results indicate that: (1) the annual mean streamflow decreases in arid and semi-arid regions of north China; however, increasing trends occur in south and Southwest China; (2) the annual streamflow and precipitation exhibit reasonable correlation in nine large river basins except those located in inland areas. The annual streamflow over most areas of China is fed by precipitation; however, the decline in streamflow is faster than the decreases of precipitation since 1970s in the arid and semi-arid regions of north China. The relationship between the annual precipitation and streamflow presents a non-stationary state in north China. This non-stationary relationship is strongly influenced by both human activities and precipitation changes; (3) a significant increase of water use might be the major factor responsible for the steeper decline in streamflow than in precipitation in Haihe River, Yellow River and Songliao River basins in north China. In inland river areas, increase of water use and actual evapotranspiration might result in decline in streamflow although precipitation has an increase tendency. This paper sheds light on the non-stationary relationship between annual precipitation and streamflow and possible underlying causes, which will be helpful for a better understanding of the changes of precipitation and streamflow in China at large scale and in other regions of the world. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The present paper provides a scientific assessment of the inter-decadal variability of the Asian summer monsoon and its significant effect on precipitation patterns in China. The paper consists of four parts. The first part shows the observed inter-decadal weakening of the Asian summer monsoon since the end of 1970s. The second part describes the impact of the weakening Asian summer monsoon on precipitation in China, which caused the major monsoon rainbelt to shift southward from North China to South China over about 30 years, with a 60-80 oscillation dominating. The third part projects the future change of the Asian summer monsoon in the warmer climate by using IPCC AR4 climate models. It has been found that major monsoon rainfall belts in East Asia will move northward in the 2040s, with summer precipitation in North China increasing considerably and stably. Finally, in the fourth part, the implication of the adaptation to the above climate change and related water management will be discussed including the water transport engineering project from the Yangtze River to the Yellow River and North China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The magnitude of bankfull discharge is an important indicator of the discharging capacity of the Lower Yellow River (LYR), and bankfull discharges at key sections need to be accurately estimated before each experiment of regulating water and sediment in the Yellow River. In this paper, a definition of bankfull stage is first proposed for complicated cross sections in the LYR, including the identification of the main-channel zone and corresponding bankfull elevation, and the geometrical characteristics of typical cross-sectional profiles are investigated during different periods. Four different approaches are listed herein to determine the magnitude of bankfull discharge in the LYR, including a method using the mean daily stage–discharge relation, a method using the instantaneous stage–discharge relation, a method using the stage–velocity relation, and a method using the simulated stage–discharge relation from a one-dimensional hydrodynamic model. The advantages, disadvantages, and applicability of these approaches are pointed out. Finally, the Huayuankou section in the braided reach of the LYR is selected as a study section, and the bankfull discharges at this section during different periods are estimated using these four methods. In addition, the predicted water levels from these approaches are compared with the observed values for the corresponding maximum discharges occurring in the next year. Calculated results show that existing approaches determining the magnitude of bankfull discharge are usually only applicable to specified hydrometric sections with negligible morphological changes during flood seasons, and the fourth method proposed in this paper has higher prediction accuracy than the other methods. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Owing to the influence of global change, land cover and land use have changed significantly over the last decade in the cold and arid regions of China, such as Madoi County which is located in the source area of the Yellow River. In this paper, land-use/cover change and landscape dynamics are investigated using satellite remote sensing (RS) and a geographical information system (GIS). The objectives of this paper are to determine land-use/cover transition rates between different cover types in the Madoi County over 10 years e.g., from 1990 to 2000. Second, the changes of landscape metrics using various indices and models are quantified. The impact factors of LUCC (Land-Use land cover Change) are systematically identified by integrating remote sensing as well as statistical data, including climate, frozen soil, hydrological data and the socio-economic data. Using 30 m×30 m spatial resolution Landsat (Enhanced) Thematic Mapper (TM/ETM+) data in our study area, nine land cover classes can be discriminated. Our results show that Grassland, Marshes and Water Bodies decrease notably, while oppositely, Sands - Gobi and Barren land increase significantly. The number of lakes with an acreage larger than six hectares decreased from 405 in 1990 to 261 in 2000. Numerous small lakes dried out. The area of grassland with a high cover fraction decreased as well, while the surface area of grassland with a medium level of cover fraction increased. The medium cover fraction grassland mainly originates from high cover fraction grassland. The desertification of land is a serious issue. (ii) The inter-transformations between Grasslands, Barren Land, Sands, Gobi, Water Bodies and Marshes are remarkable. The Shannon-Weaver Diversity Index (SWDI), the Evenness Index (EI) and the extent of Landscape Heterogeneity (LH) has improved. Marshes have become more fragmented hence, with less connected patches. (iii) In the recent 30 years, average annual temperature, the power of evaporation and the index of dryness did increase significantly. Moreover, soil moisture content (SMC) decreased and the drought trend accelerated. The degradation of frozen soil has impacted on the decrease of surface water area and induced a drop in groundwater levels. Monitoring LUCC in sensitive regions would not only benefit from a study of vulnerable ecosystems in cold and high altitude regions, but would provide scientifically based decision-making tools for local governments as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on remote sensing data and investigations, this paper focuses mainly on a general evaluation of environmental quality in the middle-upper areas of the Yellow River region using GIS technology, Arc/Info, and ArcView. In this paper, the upper areas of the Yellow River regions are divided into three parts: the north-east Qinghai-Tibet Plateau ecosystem areas, the Erdos Plateau-Hetao Plain ecosystem areas, and the Loess-Plateau ecosystem areas. The study analyses the current environmental situation and the overall environmental quality in each ecosystem area and determines the law of distribution of environmental quality in the three areas. Finally, the paper provides some suggestions to improve the ecological environment in each area, in the hope of yielding a scientific foundation based on planning ecological environment protection in the Yellow River basin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on graphical and quantitative methodology of landscape ecology and Geo-information Tupu, this paper studies the landscape spatial-temporal evolution characteristics of the Yellow River Delta (YRD), which was built up by periodic physical swings of the Yellow River (YR) rump channel during 1855-2000. According to the research on spatial-temporal evolution of YRD and YR rump channel, we conclude that the Qingshuigou channel has reached its limit and a new flow channel for YR should be built up sooner or later. It suggests that the shift of YR channel should abide by its natural rules of flowing through depressions among previous channels and could be carried out by artificial efforts. The paper discusses the problems and alternate ways out for treatment of the high content of silt in the YR flow at the estuary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this paper is to examine a deficit in surface water for the lower reaches of the Yellow River. The methods suggested in this paper to diagnose water shortage problems are simple and practical The results show that the lower reaches of the Yellow River are areas without sufficient water to meet the needs of irrigation, domestic, and industrial uses. The completion of the Sanmenxia reservoir and Xiaolangdi reservoir relax the conflict between water need and supply However if the hydrologic status becomes pessimistic with an exceedence probability of over 80 percent, then the water supply is still severe in the lower reaches of the Yellow River The water resources in the lower reaches of the Yellow River to Tianjin and Qingdao cities are very limited and unstable. The most feasible options to offset the water deficiency in the lower reaches of the Yellow River are: (a) to obtain water from the Yangzi River; (b) to obtain more water from middle and upper reaches through regulation; (c) to conduct a comprehensive water saving program. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is increasing recognition of the problems facing China in meeting the growing water demand in the Yellow River basin, the ’cradle of Chinese Civilization’ and a critically important agricultural and industrial region. Meaningful debate on the range and relative costs of options available to policy-makers in addressing the problem depend fundamentally on an accurate understanding of basin water resources. Unfortunately, the ability of outsiders to participate in the debate and for Chinese, with their long history of water management, to contribute to similar discussions elsewhere in the world is hindered to some extent by a lack of understanding of differences in water accounting systems and concepts. This paper attempts to address this problem by describing the water accounting system used in the Yellow River basin and elsewhere in China. The paper shows that the primary difference between water accounting methodologies in the Yellow River and those typically applied elsewhere is related to supply accounting in general and groundwater accounting in particular Although not currently included in its water accounting system, Chinese concepts of environmental water use, when included, will also differ substantially from those familiar to outside researchers. In terms of factual Yellow River balances, the paper highlights the apparent declining trend in basin rainfall and runoff and the dramatic growth in industrial and domestic water use. Together declining supply and rising demand will increasingly cause policy-makers to face hard choices in assessing their water planning options. These choices will only become more difficult as managers in the Yellow River, as elsewhere in the world, try to incorporate ecological needs in the water accounting equation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives Under the background of global climate change, variations in streamflow and sediment discharge in the Yellow River would continue with intensified human activities and changes in the ecological environment. To harness the Yellow River, analyzing the degrees of change and the reasons for the streamflow and sediment discharge, as well as predicting the future trends, are urgently needed. Methods In this paper, the non-parametric Mann–Kendall test, Sen's estimator of slope, Pettitt's test and wavelet transform were applied to detect the trends, the magnitude of the trends and the abrupt changes and periodic variation in streamflow and suspended sediment discharge at eight hydrological stations from 1950 to 2013 along the mainstream of the Yellow River. Results Over the past 64 years (1950–2013), the spatial distribution of the annual average streamflow was of the “M” type, and the annual average suspended sediment discharge had a parabolic curve shape along the mainstream of the Yellow River. The temporal variation showed a distinct decreasing trend in streamflow since the 1990s and in suspended sediment discharge since the 1980s. Many cycles of oscillations occurred in the streamflow and suspended sediment discharge variation, leading to an alternate change in the wet/dry periods and the high/low sediment discharge periods. Conclusions In various regions of the Yellow River Basin since the 1970s, climate changes contributed reductions of 17.0–45.0% and 12.2–50.3% for streamflow and suspended sediment discharge, respectively, whereas human activities contributed reductions of 55.0–83.0% and 49.7–87.8%. Therefore, human activities were the major causes of the significant decline in the streamflow and the suspended sediment discharge of the Yellow River over the past six decades. Reasonable and possible measures should be taken to achieve water resources optimization and configuration and to promote watershed management and sustainability in the regions of the Yellow River Basin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines how the catastrophic Yellow River flood of 1938-1947 impacted rural communities and state-society relations in the inundated area. The flood, which occurred when China's Nationalist government deliberately breached a major Yellow River dike in a desperate attempt to use flooding to slow the advance of the Japanese Imperial Army, turned millions of Chinese farmers into refugees and killed over eight hundred thousand people. This essay explores the human and social sides of the flood through the eyes of local observers, missionaries, and the wartime Chinese media. It compares rural and urban experiences of the disaster and examines local perspectives on the efficacy of the flood relief projects organized by the Chinese government. This paper finds that while the wartime Nationalist state did not abandon the inundated area, its state-building efforts there exhausted and disillusioned flood refugees rather than integrating them more fully into the modern nation state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aeolian–fluvial interplay erosion areas with complex dynamics and physical sources are the main suppliers of coarse sediment in the Yellow River. Understanding the composition, distribution, and sources of deposited sediments in such areas is of great importance for the control of sediment transport in rivers. In this paper, a typical aeolian–fluvial interplay erosion watershed – the Dongliu Gully – was studied and the frequency distribution curves of sediments deposited in the stream channel were fitted using the Weibull function. Sources of deposited sediment in the stream channel were analyzed based on the law of the conservation of matter. Results showed that the hilly zone accounted for 78% of deposited sediments, which were dominated by material with a median grain size (d 50 ) of 0.093 mm, and the desert zone accounted for 22% of deposited sediments, which were dominated by material with a d 50 of 0.01 mm. Wind erosion dynamics accounted for 72% of deposited sediments, while water erosion dynamics accounted for only 28%. This research provides a theoretical basis for the control and management of rivers with high sediment content. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Riverine wetlands provide important habitats and travel corridors for resident and transient species, playing a key role in maintaining the diversity of entire landscapes. This paper assessed a long-term (1990–2013) landscape changes and avifauna community dynamics in the Yellow River wetland natural reserves, China. Remote sensing information was combined with field surveys to collect critical data on land use and avifaunal populations. The results reveal that land use has dramatic changes during 1990–2013. Utilized water features have significantly decreased over 20 years, whereas artificial land features such as paddy, dry field and built-up area have shown a steady increasing trend in the three riverine wetlands. The spatial landscape patterns of the three wetlands have become fragmented and notably heterogeneous as results of rapid economic development. With the changes of utilized water features, avifauna data show that some overwintering and transient species are becoming permanent residents. Though there is an abundant and diverse array of bird species utilizing the wetlands, migrating traits of these avifauna species have changed. This study can provide basic information for making effective and sustainable conservation plans for the entire Yellow River wetland natural reserves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sedimentary evolution of the ancient Huanghe (Yellow River) Delta in China is not well documented due to frequent river-avulsions and limited deep cores. In this paper, 22 cores with lengths of > 20 m at the coastal plain along the southwestern Bohai Bay were used. The sedimentary facies were determined by grain size and microfossil analysis, and Carbon-14 dating. The strata in the study area since the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) are divided into lowstand system tract (LST), transgressive system tract (TST), highstand system tract (HST), and retrograding system tract (RST). The LST, which formed during the LGM to 10.8 ka BP, consists of hard mud layer, and overlying interfluvial lowland and flood plain deposits. The TST that formed during 10.8–8.5 ka BP, mainly include coastal marsh, onshore sand bars, and filled incised valleys. The HST that formed during 8.5–2.6 ka BP mainly includes flood plain, river channel, delta front, mouth bar and prodelta. The RST that formed after 2.6 ka BP mainly includes crevasse splay, interfluvial lowlands and distributary channel. About eight episodes of the ancient Huanghe (delta) are observed during the Holocene and the names of the deltas are given by corresponding location names of cheniers: (1) during 10.8–8.5 ka BP, around YS3 and NP1 cores, without formation of cheniers during the transgression, (2) during 8.5–7.4 ka BP, around YS1, YS4 and NP3 cores, the Dongsun-Shuiyicheng delta, (3) during 7.4–6.1 ka BP, around CK1 core, the Mashanzi delta, (4) during 6.9–5.7 ka BP, around GZ3 core, the Miaozhuang-zhaizhuang delta, (5) during 4.6–3.5 ka BP, around YS4 core, the Wuditai delta, (6) during 3.0–2.6 ka BP, around HH4 and HH1 cores, the Qikou delta, (7) during 2.6–1.9 ka BP, around YS7 and NP1 cores, the Nanpaihe delta, and (8) during 1034 BC–1099 BC, around Wangzidao and Dakouhe, the Wangzidao delta. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

River works constituted the largest civil expenditure of the Qing state. In theory, the fiscal responsibility of the Qing state only stretched to major conservancy efforts of the Yellow River and Grand Canal, as well as the construction and maintenance of major river banks and irrigation initiatives. Smaller projects were funded and managed by local communities. Nonetheless, this division of funding between the state and local society was blurred in practice. Since the early eighteenth century, the Qing state routinely advanced the monies to pay for major repair and reconstruction of nonstate water-control projects; the communities who benefited from the finished project returned the investment to the state through extra duties on land taxes. This special method for financing hydraulic projects was frequently used in the first half of the nineteenth century when the Qing state experienced increasing fiscal difficulties. By examining the application of this financing method in different places and under varying circumstances between 1750 and 1850, this paper argues that the legitimation of state power through public good provision was the major justification of this policy. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In the last decade, much has been learned about the network of interactions in Bronze Age Eurasia, and the importance of the steppe pastoralists in the creation of this network. However, the mechanisms that enabled societies in ancient China (both those bordering on and distant from the steppe) to participate in the Bronze Age Eurasian arena are still poorly understood. Based on the latest archaeological discoveries in China, this article focuses on the participation of four regions of ancient China: the Ejin River Transfer Zone (ERTZ); the western Hexi corridor; central Inner Mongolia; and the middle Yellow River valley. The article analyzes all significant innovations, materials, and technologies transmitted via the Eurasian network and adopted in ancient China, with an emphasis on metallurgy and the variations in the mechanism of its adoption across different societies during the Bronze Age. The introduction of metallurgy into the ERTZ was an economic imperative, although it was profoundly affected by the political landscape in the middle Yellow River valley. Through analysis and comparison, this paper argues that the participation of different societies of ancient China in the Bronze Age Eurasian network can best be understood in the local and regional contexts, which were deeply embedded in their natural and cultural landscapes, rather than as the result of the pull from the steppe pastoralists alone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Complex block-flexure slope toppling is observed in interbedded sandstone and slate in the upper Yellow River, China. Block toppling is observed in the relatively hard sandstone and flexural toppling is observed in the relatively soft slate. The evolution of toppling slope deformation is characterized by long-term progress and spatial variability. In order to study these characteristics, field investigations, adit prospecting, borehole drilling, sonic tests and numerical simulation were carried out. In addition, the effect of the structure, the composite mode of the rock mass, the unloading fissures and geomorphology are discussed. Furthermore, we explored the toppling mechanisms and simulated it numerically; on this basis, the slope evolution is divided into four stages. Results obtained from the numerical simulation compared well with field investigation data (investigation data, rock sonic survey and strata dip statistics). Comparative studies have demonstrated that the analytical methods presented in this paper are appropriate for back analysis of the toppling evolution process. The result showed that this toppling slope has not yet entered the later progressivity failure stage and is currently limited to collapse at shallow levels, whereas the deep-seated rock mass will remain stable for a long time. This study might provide reference for a stability evaluation and hazard prevention analysis for rock toppling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Water shortages have become one of the most severe problems in semi-arid regions throughout the world. Although semi-arid regions have always been dry, human activities and climate change are acerbating the problem. In Chinese Yellow River basin, the river is the major source of freshwater for those living there, and they have long suffered from serious water shortages. However, increasing population and decreasing streamflow are making these shortages more acute. This study seeks to quantify changes in available water in the Yellow River basin over the last 100 years and attempts to determine causes for these changes. To do this, the study evaluated changing trends and regime shifts of streamflow using long term historical records at different hydrological stations in the Yellow River basin over the past century. The results show that annual streamflow has a significant decreasing trends (P < 0.01) in the mid-lower reaches of the basin. Streamflow decomposition by the breaks for additive seasonal and trend approach suggest that this trend can be decomposed into four distinct annual stages (1919-1933, 1934-1969, 1970-1986 and 1987-2011), while the seasonal component demonstrated an evident regime shift in 1986. This regime shift is mainly related to the construction of large reservoirs in the basin. The flow duration curves illustrate a decrease in the magnitude of streamflow over the last century with a relatively uniform flow regime at all stations. The reconstructed streamflow at Toudaoguai station suggests that agricultural irrigation is predominantly responsible for streamflow reductions between Lanzhou and Toudaoguai stations with approximately 9.1 km/a of water extracted between 1997 and 2006. Meanwhile, a decrease of incoming water from upper reaches and soil and water conservation measures were responsible for the significant decline in annual streamflow at mid-lower reaches station. The result of this paper should be of use for water resources planning, watershed management and climate adaptation as they demonstrate how natural and anthropogenic drivers influence water availability in semi-arid regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Dragon lake diversion channel (DLDC) is the only river that recharges Dragon Lake, an artificial lake in China. This paper examines the main factors influencing water quality by investigating point source and non-point source pollutants along the main route. Based on the complicated system of rivers and desilting basins, a three-dimensional water quality model using environmental fluid dynamics code (EFDC) was developed. The model of DLDC was calibrated and verified using observed data. The error ranges of river water level, total phosphorus, total nitrogen and chemical oxygen demand were within 5%, 10%, 16% and 20%, respectively, all of which meet the precision requirement. The model was employed to predict the concentrations of pollutants in the main stream under current pollution loads within a year and a flood lasting for 24 hours. The results revealed that the main pollution sources that influence the water quality of waterways were the point sources followed by the non-point pollution sources. Water quality improved when large water quantities were delivered and this trend can be described as dilution. The water quality of the Dongfeng main channel meets the requirement; however, the water quality of the Dongfeng River is somewhat poor, and the water quality of the Wei River is seriously contaminated. To address these problems, we suggest that the Dongfeng River and Wei River adopt a culvert under its riverbeds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spatial distribution of soil salinity can be estimated based on its environmental factors because soil salinity is strongly affected and indicated by environmental factors. Different with other properties such as soil texture, soil salinity varies with short-term time. Thus, how to choose powerful environmental predictors is especially important for soil salinity. This paper presents a similarity-based prediction approach to map soil salinity and detects powerful environmental predictors for the Huanghe (Yellow) River Delta area in China. The similarity-based approach predicts the soil salinities of unsampled locations based on the environmental similarity between unsampled and sampled locations. A dataset of 92 points with salt data at depth of 30-40 cm was divided into two subsets for prediction and validation. Topographical parameters, soil textures, distances to irrigation channels and to the coastline, land surface temperature from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), Normalized Difference Vegetation Indices (NDVIs) and land surface reflectance data from Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) imagery were generated. The similarity-based prediction approach was applied on several combinations of different environmental factors. Based on three evaluation indices including the correlation coefficient (CC) between observed and predicted values, the mean absolute error and the root mean squared error we found that elevation, distance to irrigation channels, soil texture, night land surface temperature, NDVI, and land surface reflectance Band 5 are the optimal combination for mapping soil salinity at the 30-40 cm depth in the study area (with a CC value of 0.69 and a root mean squared error value of 0.38). Our results indicated that the similarity-based prediction approach could be a vital alternative to other methods for mapping soil salinity, especially for area with limited observation data and could be used to monitor soil salinity distributions in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Policy plays a very important role in natural resource management as it lays out a government framework for guiding long-term decisions, and evolves in light of the interactions between human and environment. This paper focuses on soil and water conservation (SWC) policy in the Yellow River Basin (YRB), China. The problems, rural poverty, severe soil erosion, great sediment loads and high flood risks, are analyzed over the period of 1949–present using the Driving force–Pressure–State–Impact–Response (DPSIR) framework as a way to organize analysis of the evolution of SWC policy. Three stages are identified in which SWC policy interacts differently with institutional, financial and technology support. In Stage 1 (1949–1979), SWC policy focused on rural development in eroded areas and on reducing sediment loads. Local farmers were mainly responsible for SWC. The aim of Stage 2 (1980–1990) was the overall development of rural industry and SWC. A more integrated management perspective was implemented taking a small watershed as a geographic interactional unit. This approach greatly improved the efficiency of SWC activities. In Stage 3 (1991 till now), SWC has been treated as the main measure for natural resource conservation, environmental protection, disaster mitigation and agriculture development. Prevention of new degradation became a priority. The government began to be responsible for SWC, using administrative, legal and financial approaches and various technologies that made large-scale SWC engineering possible. Over the historical period considered, with the implementation of the various SWC policies, the rural economic and ecological system improved continuously while the sediment load and flood risk decreased dramatically. The findings assist in providing a historical perspective that could inform more rational, scientific and effective natural resource management going forward. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau has experienced extensive degradation in recent years since the privatization of livestock and rangeland ownership and the resulting dynamic changes in stocking rates. Herdsmen have had to adapt their behaviour in order to maximize profit. This paper outlines those changes and the consequent impacts on the ecosystem. The results show that livestock death rates have continued to increase in line with the deterioration of rangeland. Although farms have increased the proportion of yak in their herds, the total number of livestock in Maduo county has decreased significantly from one million in 1977 to 0.42 million in 2003. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports findings from experimental studies of sediment transport and bed morphology at asymmetrical confluences with hyperconcentrated tributary flows in the upper Yellow River. The results indicate that the hyperconcentrated flow confluence can be divided into four hydraulic regions, including the backwater zone above the upstream junction corner, the maximum velocity area, the separation flow zone, and the post-confluence region downstream of the junction corner. The bed morphology also consists of four basic elements, including the sandbar in the backwater zone, the bar in the separation flow zone, the thalweg for flow conveyance and sediment transport, and bars in the reach downstream of the separation zone. The sediment load of the hyperconcentrated flow from the tributary was the most important control on fluvial processes at such confluences. The increase in deposition in the backwater zone as the sediment load increased was almost linear, and the depth of sediment deposition in the backwater zone was approximately normal in distribution. The validity of a conceptual model for discriminating the status of the backwater effect, developed earlier from field data using the relationship between the sediment load and water volume of hyperconcentrated flows, was confirmed by the experiments. Deposition in the reach downstream of the junction, sandbar height in the backwater zone, and the width and length of the separation zone bar all tended to increase as the sediment load in the tributary increased. An obvious upstream-directed density current occurred in the backwater zone when the sediment concentration of the hyperconcentrated flow exceeded a critical value. The travel distance of the density current increased as the sediment load in the tributary increased. A formula was proposed, based on sediment continuity, for estimating the deposition volume in the reach downstream of the junction. Compared with ordinary sediment-laden flow confluences, hyperconcentrated flow confluences have a sandbar in the backwater zone associated with an upstream-directed density current that may sometimes block the main channel. Hyperconcentrated flow confluences have a thalweg, and so are different from debris flow confluences, which have a fan-shaped deposit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we developed algorithms to estimate hourly evapotranspiration (ET) during a day under clear and cloud cover conditions using data from the Chinese FengYun-2D (FY-2D) geostationary meteorological satellite over the Yellow River source area. For cloud-free conditions, the Surface Energy Balance System (SEBS) methodology and FY-2D data were used to derive the hourly ET. For cloudy cover conditions, the transmission coefficient was calculated using top of atmosphere (TOA) reflectance and the attenuation of solar radiation in the atmosphere. Heat fluxes and ET under different atmospheric and cloud cover conditions were then calculated. Compared with ground-based measurements from eddy covariance systems deployed in the Maqu Climate and Environment Comprehensive Observation Station, the average relative error was 15.20% during the experimental period. The proposed methodology can rely exclusively on remote sensing data in the absence of ancillary ground observations. Thus, the proposed method can potentially estimate the regional surface energy budget. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abrupt reduction of the sediment load in the middle reaches of the Yellow River has extracted much attention during the past several decades due to global climate changes and intensive human activities. This paper investigates the spatial and temporal variations of annual sediment load in the section between Hekouzhen and Longmen in the middle reaches of the Yellow River basin from 1962 to 2009 by using annual observations at 21 hydrological gauging stations (4 mainstream and 17 tributaries stations), by making use of Mann–Kendall test and simple linear regression for trend detection, and the sequential cluster analysis method and Student’s t test for changing point detection. The results suggest that sediment load from both mainstream and tributaries show significant decreasing trends at confidence level of 0.01. Evident abrupt changing points are detected around 1970s for most stations, but for Toudaoguai station and Fugu station are found in the mid-1980s, which are mainly attributed to the operation of Longyangxia Dam. In addition, abrupt changes in the sediment series at some stations from the tributaries were found around the late 1990s, this situation may be resulted from the “Green for Grain” project launched in 1999. Sediment budget analysis indicates that the 17 tributaries contributes 70.60% sediment load to the whole research area, which suggests that the majority sediment load contribution to He-Long region is from these tributaries. The comparison among three mainstream sections implies that the sediment is mainly from Wubao–Longmen section. And contribution of tributaries in each mainstream section is mainly from Huangfuchuan River, Kuye River, Wuding River and Yan River. The reduction of the sediment load is mainly caused by human activities especially soil and water conservation projects (such as afforestation, terraces, reservoirs and dams). In summary, the results in this study provide a further evidence for a more exact sediment source region and implementing soil and water conservation measures more effectively in the middle reaches of the Yellow River basin, China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Pisha Sandstone area is located in the triangle region close to Shanxi Province, Shaanxi Province, and Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region in Northwestern China. This area is the main source of coarse sediment entering into upper and middle reaches of Yellow River of China. The area is often called as “the most severe soil and water loss area in the world” and compared to “the cancer of the earth” due to the extremely serious soil and water loss and poor eco-environment. To control the coarse sediment delivering into Yellow River and restore the ecology of this area, the seabuckthorn plant flexible dam, a new ecological engineering, was proposed and used widely in this area. In this paper, the sediment retention effects of the double seabuckthorn flexible dams (“SFDs”) after seven years in the Pisha Sandstone gully were simulated using one-dimensional sediment and water mathematical model. Based on the computational results, several major design and planting parameters and their values were analyzed and discussed, including the dam length, the dam gap, the roughness as well as the slope of gully bed. The interaction among these parameters was also discussed according to the simulation results. We found that the sediment retention effects of the double seabuckthorn plant flexible dams were also dependent on the rainfall events and the gully topography. This study provides the theoretical proof for the design and planting of the double seabuckthorn flexible dams (i.e., a new ecological engineering) in the Pisha Sandstone area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Prediction in ungauged basins remains a major challenge in hydrology. A key issue in the application of hydrological models to ungauged areas is regional parameterization. This paper presents a regional calibration approach to constructing regional relationships between the parameters of the Snowmelt-based Water Balance Model (SWBM) and catchment characteristics. Data from 38 well-gauged catchments were used to establish regional regression equations of model parameters, and data from an additional four independent catchments were used to test and validate the proposed regional calibration approach. The results indicated that the SWBM performed well in monthly discharge simulations for the 38 well-gauged catchments. The regional relationships of the SWBM parameters derived from the regional calibration approach were found to be highly correlated to catchment characteristics. In addition, the SWBM performed well in discharge simulations for the additional four test sites using only the constructed regional equations to estimate model parameters. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Statistical analyses, a Piper diagram, the saturation index and the correlations of chemical parameters were used to reveal the hydrogeochemistry and hydrogeochemical evolution of shallow groundwater in the southern part of the Zhongwei section of the Yellow River alluvial plain. The water quality for agricultural and domestic uses was also assessed in the study. The results suggest that the shallow groundwater in the study area is fresh to moderately mineralized water. Higher Ca2+ and HCO3- are observed in the less mineralized water, whereas Na+ and SO42- are common ions in the highly mineralized water. The major hydrochemical facies for groundwater with total dissolved solids (TDS) <1 g/L are HCO3-Ca·Mg and HCO3-Ca·Na·Mg, and for groundwater with TDS > 1 g/L, SO4·Cl-Na and SO4·Cl-Na·Mg·Ca are the predominant hydrochemical types. The main reactions in the groundwater system are the dissolution/precipitation of gypsum, fluorite, halite, calcite and dolomite. Cation exchange is also important in controlling the groundwater chemistry. The water samples assessed in the paper are of acceptable quality for agricultural use, but most of them are not fit for direct human consumption (drinking). TDS, total hardness (TH), Cl- and SO42- are the main indices that result in the poor drinking water quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Siltation of coarse sediment in the river channel is the main cause of flooding and dike burst on China's Yellow River, and the loess are thought as the coarse sediment sources of the lower reach of the Yellow River. The Ningxia-Inner Mongolia reaches of the Yellow River flow through an extensive area of aeolian desert, with flood events occurring frequently in this region. In this paper, we investigate the trace element contents of the coarse sediment in the Ningxia-Inner Mongolia reaches of the Yellow River. The main chemical components of the coarse sediments consist of 28 trace elements. Correlation analysis and factor analysis of 21 of these trace elements indicates that Ti and Zr are stable indicators of the coarse sediment sources. Comparing the spatial distribution of some of the main trace elements to major sources and riverbed sediment of the main reaches of the Yellow River suggests that the coarse sediments deposited in the Ningxia-Inner Mongolia reaches are mostly controlled by the local sediment sources. The results of R-factor analysis further proved that desert sand, riverbank material, and the Ten Tributaries are the primary sources of the coarse sediment in the Ningxia-Inner Mongolia reaches of the Yellow River. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]