Using a network of 31 moisture-sensitive tree-ring width chronologies, researchers reconstructed natural runoff for the Yellow River's middle reach from 1492 to 2013 CE and found that prior to human interference beginning in the 1960s, the lowest natural runoff occurred during a drought period between 1926 and 1932 CE, and since the late 1980s, the observed runoff was low but exceeded the natural range of runoff variability, likely due to decreased precipitation and increased human activity, according to the authors.
Article #19-22349: "Recent anthropogenic curtailing of Yellow River runoff and sediment load is unprecedented over the past 500 y," by Yu Liu et al.
MEDIA CONTACT: Yu Liu, Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xi'an, CHINA; tel: +86-13359291673, e-mail: < liuyu@loess.llqg.ac.cn >; Zhisheng An, Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xi'an, CHINA; tel: +86-29-62336201; e-mail: anzs@loess.llqg.ac.cn
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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences