Implication of relationships among suspended sediment size, water discharge and suspended sediment concentration: the Yellow River basin, China

Abstract

According to the yearly maximum suspended sediment concentrations (SSC) in the Yellow River and its tributaries, the rivers are divided into three types of more than 300, 20–300, and less than 20 kg/m 3. The middle Yellow River basin is located in the transitional zone from subhumid to semiarid climates, and covered by a thick loess mantle. Neighboring on the desert areas to the northwest, the surface material of the Loess Plateau exhibits some marked areal differentiation in grain size and forms three zones covered by sandy loess, (typical) loess and clayey loess from northwest to southeast. Controlled by these physico-geographical conditions, the grain size of river-transported sediment shows some particular characteristics; at small water discharge or SSC, the grain size of suspended sediment abruptly decreases to a minimum with increasing water discharge or SSC. At water discharge of more than ca. 40 m 3/s or at SSC of more than ca. 40 kg/m 3, the grain size increases with water discharge or SSC. During the low-stage season, the relatively clear baseflow may scour the coarse bed materials, so the suspended sediment is relatively coarse. In the rainy season, rainstorm runoff washes out fine loess materials to the river, making suspended sediment fine. During relatively strong rainstorms, there often occur hyperconcentrated flows at SSC of more than 300 kg/m 3. The relatively coarse grains could then remain suspended in the mixture of water and fine suspended sediment.