PROGRESS IN GEOGRAPHY ›› 2019, Vol. 38 ›› Issue (5): 772-782.doi: 10.18306/dlkxjz.2019.05.013

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Change of sediment load and its influencing factors in the Hongshui River Basin in Southwestern China

XUE Tianyi(),WU Xutong,ZHU Chenyi,WANG Hongya()   

  1. College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
  • Received:2018-12-11 Online:2019-05-28 Published:2019-05-28
  • Contact: WANG Hongya E-mail:xty@pku.edu.cn;why@urban.pku.edu.cn
  • Supported by:
    National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 41571130044

Abstract:

Hongshui River Basin in Southwestern China is the main sediment source of the Pearl River. In order to determine the features of sediment load and its influencing factors in the basin from 1955 to 2016, this study identified three periods of sediment load change by using rank order cluster analysis, and calculated the contribution of average precipitation, water yield capacity, and sediment concentrations to the change of sediment load by means of sediment source attribution. On this basis, the main factors affecting the change of sediment load were further analyzed. The results suggest that 1963 and 1991 were the two turning points of sediment load at the Qianjiang Station in the basin. Due to the variation of sediment concentration, sediment load changed greatly before and after these two points, and human activities were the main driving force of the change of sediment load in this basin. During 1955-1991, the increase of sediment load in the Hongshui River was mainly caused by the increase of soil erosion as a result of deforestation and reclamation in the basin. From 1964 to 2016, 83.49% of the total sediment load reduction was caused by reservoir construction, while the increase of vegetation coverage contributed 12.03% to the decrease of sediment load in the same period. Comparing the results of the WaTEM/SEDEM model with the above results, it is also found that reservoir construction accounted for the vast majority (81.03%) of the total reduction between 1964 and 2016, while the contribution of land-use change to the reduction of sediment load was relatively small (18.97%).

Key words: Hongshui River Basin, reservoir, sediment load, sediment source attribution, vegetation coverage

CLC Number: 

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