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An assessment of human versus climatic impacts on large-sized basin erosion: the case of the upper Yangtze River

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Abstract

Riverine sediment load, a reflection of basin erosion and sediment yield, is influenced by both climatic and human factors. Complex interaction between various factors within a basin dampens and counteracts the forces that drive sediment variations. The gross human impact index and the index estimation method have both been proposed to reflect the impacts of human activities on soil erosion and sediment yield. Sediment load and daily rainfall data from 1955 to 2010 in the upper Yangtze basin, and in the Wu, Jialing, Min and Jinsha subbasins, were collected to assess the human versus climatic impacts on sediment yield. From 1955 to 2010, the average annual runoff in the study area was 428.2 billion m3, and the average annual suspended sediment load was approximately 0.43 billion t. There was a critical point in 1984, 1985, 1991, 1993 and 1999 when the sediment load decreased in the Wu, Jialing, upper Yangtze, Min and Jinsha river, respectively. The annual regional rainfall erosivities in the upper Yangtze basin in most years ranged between 2,500 and 3,500 MJ mm hm−2 h−1 year−1 and fluctuated around 3,000 MJ mm hm−2 h−1 year−1 with a small coefficient of variation of 0.11. In the Jinsha subbasin, the index indicated that increasing rainfall erosivity could not account for the reduction in riverine sediment load and that anthropogenic erosion-control measures played a key role. The index values for the Min, Jialing and Wu subbasins ranged from 76 to 97 % and for the upper Yangtze basin is 95 %, demonstrating the joint effects of precipitation and human activities in all basins, with erosion-controlling measures playing a major role in sediment load reduction.

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Acknowledgments

We warmly thank the reviewers for their insightful comments and helpful suggestions. This study is finically supported by National Key Technology R & D Program (No. 2011BAD31B03), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 41001168), Chongqing Education Committee (No. KJ100601) and the Key Laboratory of Mountain Surface Processes and Ecological Regulation. We are also grateful to the China Meteorological Data Sharing Service System for access to the valuable daily precipitation datasets.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Geography and Tourism College, Chongqing Normal University, Chongqing, 400047, China

    Jie Wei & Lin Hou

  2. Key Laboratory of Mountain Surface Processes and Ecological Regulation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chengdu, 610041, China

    Xiubin He

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  1. Jie Wei
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  2. Lin Hou
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  3. Xiubin He
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Correspondence to Jie Wei.

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Wei, J., Hou, L. & He, X. An assessment of human versus climatic impacts on large-sized basin erosion: the case of the upper Yangtze River. Nat Hazards 74, 405–420 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-014-1190-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-014-1190-8

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