was caused by human interference that transformed and destabilised the river, according to an analysis of 12,000 years’ worth of data by scientists in China and the US.
The Yellow River, China’s second and the world’s sixth longest, is called the cradle of Chinese civilisation. Lead author Yu Shiyong, professor at Jiangsu Normal University’s school of geography, geomatics, and planning, noted how the Yellow River had become known as the “sorrow of China” due to frequent flooding since the Western Han dynasty .“Taming the river became the top priority of central governments during historical times. Unfortunately, policymakers tended to always choose an expedient strategy for flood control by simply building dykes along the river,” Yu said.
“As sediment supply originating in the Loess Plateau continued to increase, siltation started over in the new channel and embankment followed, thereby beginning the cycle anew.” “[This] should be continued and enforced in China, to deal with not only the long-term [effects of] climate change, but also extreme precipitation events, as a warming climate may boost the global hydrological cycle,” he said, referring to the process by which water in all its forms – solid, liquid and vapour – circulates around the world.
“Our study confirms previous findings from the Mississippi and Rhine rivers [in the US and Europe] that structural flood control, despite its short-term benefits, may boost long-term flood hazards through a suite of positive feedback loops known as the cascading effect.