Correlation Analysis between Land-Use/Cover Change and Coastal Subsidence in the Yellow River Delta, China: Reviewing the Past and Prospecting the Future

Yi Zhang,Yilin Liu,Keyu Qin,Xinghua Zhou,Haijun Huang,Zechao Bai,Xinyuan Zhang

doi:10.3390/rs13224563

Abstract

In recent years, noticeable subsidence depressions have occurred along the coastal zone of the Yellow River Delta. Consistent with these changes, dramatic human modifications within the coastal zone stand out, and the coastline is altered from an undisturbed natural area to an artificial coastline. However, very few studies have attempted to quantitatively analyze the relationship between subsidence depression and human activities. Here, the subsidence characteristics of the different land-use types in the Yellow River Delta are examined, and their spatiotemporal trends are quantified using a long-term satellite-observed time series of 30 years (1984–2017) regarding the land use map in combination with the InSAR-derived vertical ground deformations during three typical periods (P1: 1992–2000, P2: 2007–2010, and P3: 2016–2017). Noticeably, the highest subsidence rates were observed in areas where substantial human activities were observed, such as the subsidence in the salt fields ranging from 13 mm/year to 32 mm/year to 453 mm/year, respectively. Moreover, through the land-use prediction of Land Change Modeler (LCM), it is found that the salt field area will be further expanded in the future. The ecological vulnerability of the Yellow River Delta coastal zone should receive more attention in the future in terms of planning environmental protection strategies.

Highlights

There is no doubt that the amount of human interference in Earth systems has strongly increased during the last century and has reached a new high level, with even greater effects than those of many natural processes on Earth [1]
This study demonstrates the evolution of the coastal land-use of the Yellow River Delta, which is represented by shrimp farms, oil fields, and salt pans, and these aspects have been subjected to tremendous alterations due to human activities over the past 30 years
To analyze the land-use evolution with the maximum access to the land-use history, quantify the synchronous subsidence rates obtained from interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR)-derived subsidence rates, and reduce the classification errors caused by seasonal variation, six Landsat satellite images (1984, 1992, 2000, 2007, 2010, and 2017) with low cloud coverage during autumn (August–October) were screened (Table 1)

Summary

Introduction

There is no doubt that the amount of human interference in Earth systems has strongly increased during the last century and has reached a new high level, with even greater effects than those of many natural processes on Earth [1]. Most of the deltas in the world have undergone artificial transformations. River Delta is highlighted as a hotspot due to its dramatic coastal land-use changes [2,3]. Deltaic sediments are naturally prone to sinking due to their high compressibility and low bearing capacity. It is clear that human activity has accelerated this natural process, primarily through the exploitation of groundwater and hydrocarbons [5–7]. In the Yellow River Delta, an increasing number of case studies have

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion