《The Huanghe (Yellow River) and Changjiang (Yangtze River)》.pdf

Geomorphology 41 Ž2001. 219–231 rlocatergeomorph ž / ž / The Huanghe Yellow River and Changjiang Yangtze River deltas: a review on their characteristics, evolution and sediment discharge during the Holocene Yoshiki Saito a, ), Zuosheng Yang b , Kazuaki Hori c a MRE, Geological SurÕey of Japan, AIST. Higashi 1-1-3, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8567, Japan b College of Marine Geosciences, Ocean UniÕersity of Qingdao, 5 Yushan Road, Qingdao 266003, People’s Republic of China c Department of Earth and Planetary Science, UniÕersity of Tokyo, Hongo 7-3-1, Bunkyou-ku, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan Received 28 February 2000; received in revised form 12 October 2000; accepted 1 June 2001 Abstract Today, Asian rivers play an important role in delivering sediment from the land to the oceans. However, past sediment discharge before human activities modified the landscape is not well known and is estimated to have been roughly one-third to one-half of the present level. Chinese rivers have been strongly influenced by human activities, and their sediment discharge has changed over the last 6000 years. For the study of the long-term human impact on rivers and catchment basins, Chinese rivers provide excellent examples because continuous historical records are available. Here, the characteristics, evolution and sediment discharge during the Holocene of the deltas of two large Chinese rivers, Huanghe ŽYellow River. and Changjiang ŽYangtze River. are summarized.