Human Management Decreased Suspended Particle Size in the Loess Plateau Rivers during the 1980s to the 2010s

Keyu Li, Dong Liu (), Zhiqiang Qiu, Mengwei Duan, Xiaodao Wei and Hongtao Duan ()
Additional contact information
Keyu Li: College of Urban and Environment Sciences, Northwest University, Xi’an 710127, China
Dong Liu: Key Laboratory of Watershed Geographic Sciences, Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China
Zhiqiang Qiu: College of Urban and Environment Sciences, Northwest University, Xi’an 710127, China
Mengwei Duan: School of Transportation and Geomatics Engineering, Shenyang Jianzhu University, Shenyang 110168, China
Xiaodao Wei: Shanghai Investigation, Design & Research Institute Co., Ltd., Shanghai 200050, China
Hongtao Duan: College of Urban and Environment Sciences, Northwest University, Xi’an 710127, China

Sustainability, 2024, vol. 16, issue 2, 1-19

Abstract: The study of river sediment is a broad and complex field. One of the very important parameters is suspended particle size (SPS), which is indispensable for understanding water–sediment dynamics. As one of the most serious soil erosion areas in the world, the Loess Plateau delivers a large amount of sediment to the Yellow River and its numerous tributaries. Studies on riverine SPS in the Loess Plateau have received extensive attention. In this study, we investigate the spatiotemporal variations of SPS in the Loess Plateau rivers and analyze the driving factors along with their relative importance. Through the analysis of SPS data from 62 hydrological stations, the results indicated the spatial distribution of SPS was similar in the 1980s and 2010s, with both coarser particles mainly distributed in the northern rivers and finer particles mainly distributed in the southern rivers. During the 1980s to the 2010s, the mean SPS on the Loess Plateau decreased from 33 μm to 20 μm, with mean reductions of 42.0%, 29.4%, 46.3%, and 36.8% in the northern, western, southwestern, and southeastern basins, respectively. The most significant changes in SPS were observed in the Kuye, Wuding and Jalu River basins in the northern region, with decreases ranging from 27 to 73 μm. In the 1980s, topography (slope) and human management, followed by precipitation, were the key factors affecting SPS variability, contributing 25.7%, 25.9% and 24.0%, respectively. In the 2010s, the explanatory power of topographic slope on SPS variability declined by 16.6%, and other natural factors no longer significantly influenced SPS variability. The results of this study can serve as a reference for integrated basin management and sustainable ecosystem development in river catchments around the world.

Keywords: driving forces; human management; Loess Plateau; particle size; variation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/2/799/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/2/799/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:2:p:799-:d:1320850

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().