Land-accretion of the Huanghe River Delta influenced by drainage basin factors

Because tidal and wave processes in the Huanghe River mouth are weak but the sediment flux from the river into the sea is huge in quantity,land accreting process of the Huanghe River Delta is predominated by drainage basin factors.Thus,the Huanghe River Delta provides anideal site to study the response of land accreting process to the changing climate and human activities.By using sea charts and remote sensing images,the annual land accreting area is identified and then related with annual precipitation and human activities in the drainage basin.It is found that the land accreting rate of the delta is positively correlated with precipitation,but negatively correlated with the areas of all kinds of erosion control measures and with the quantity of water diversion.A multiple regression equation is established between the land accreting rate of the delta and the influencing factors including the area of terraceland building and tree and grass planting,the area of the land created by the sediment trapped by checkdams,the annual precipitation and the annual quantity of water diversion.T he equation indicates that the land accreting rate of the delta incr eases with annual precipitation,but decreases with the areas of land terracing,tree and grass planting and the land created by the sediment trapping checkdams,and decreases with the quantity of net water diversion.