Non-consistent changes and drivers of water-sediment fluxes in the yarlung tsangpo river basin of the Tibetan plateau
Variations in water-sediment fluxes and their driving mechanisms are critical to riverine ecosystems and management. Yet, current estimates of the response of water and sediment flux remain insufficiently quantified, limited by the scarcity of long-term hydrological records in the alpine regions. He...
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KeAi Communications Co., Ltd.
2025-06-01
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| Series: | International Soil and Water Conservation Research |
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| author | Dongmei Zhao Donghong Xiong Kunlong He Baojun Zhang Fan Zhang Han Wu Haiyan Fang Wenduo Zhang Changyan Zhou Xiaodan Wang |
| author_facet | Dongmei Zhao Donghong Xiong Kunlong He Baojun Zhang Fan Zhang Han Wu Haiyan Fang Wenduo Zhang Changyan Zhou Xiaodan Wang |
| author_sort | Dongmei Zhao |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Variations in water-sediment fluxes and their driving mechanisms are critical to riverine ecosystems and management. Yet, current estimates of the response of water and sediment flux remain insufficiently quantified, limited by the scarcity of long-term hydrological records in the alpine regions. Here, we leverage decadal observations in the Yarlung Tsangpo River basin, to investigate the dynamic shifts in water-sediment fluxes from 1955 to 2020 and elucidate their linkage to a warming and wetting climate, snowmelt, and environmental greening (including natural- and human-induced greening) in the different spatial and temporal scale. Major drivers of shifts in water-sediment flux are identified by using wavelet coherence and variance partitioning of redundancy analysis. The results highlight that observational data from four gauging stations (i.e., Lhaze, Nugesha, Yangcun, and Nuxia) uncover a substantial decrease in Suspended Sediment Load (SSL) (Nuxia: 12.302 × 104 t/yr, P < 0.05) in the downstream with consistently increasing runoff and precipitation. Especially during the flood season (July to September), the dam/reservoir construction caused a median decrease in SSL. Dropping sediment offsets the slightly rising SSLs in the midstream and upstream (upper Yangcun: 14.8 × 104 t/yr, P > 0.05). Up to 80% of sediment was sourced from the middle stretch between Lhaze and Nugesha despite it supplied with lower regional runoff generation. Nevertheless, the downstream zone experienced the transition from a sediment source to a deposition area around 1998. We further found the negative and positive effects between water-sediment fluxes and revegetation, and demonstrated that employing NDVI to evaluate human-induced vegetation greening might overestimate the impact of ecological restoration programs on water-sediment fluxes. Attribution analysis indicates that precipitation was not the primary contributor to runoff and SSL changes in all stretches of the basin. In the upstream, temperature and associated snowmelt can be more important than precipitation. Compared to before 1998, precipitation is still the primary driver of change in downstream runoff change after 1998, whilst vegetation restoration, rather than precipitation, dominates the reduction in downstream SSL. These findings have far-reaching significance for watershed managers and decision-makers in terms of developing effective strategies for water resources and soil erosion control. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-71cd6e921fae4ed9a1ebb1f1b4898bae |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2095-6339 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-06-01 |
| publisher | KeAi Communications Co., Ltd. |
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| series | International Soil and Water Conservation Research |
| spelling | doaj-art-71cd6e921fae4ed9a1ebb1f1b4898bae2025-08-20T03:42:15ZengKeAi Communications Co., Ltd.International Soil and Water Conservation Research2095-63392025-06-0113236237810.1016/j.iswcr.2024.10.003Non-consistent changes and drivers of water-sediment fluxes in the yarlung tsangpo river basin of the Tibetan plateauDongmei Zhao0Donghong Xiong1Kunlong He2Baojun Zhang3Fan Zhang4Han Wu5Haiyan Fang6Wenduo Zhang7Changyan Zhou8Xiaodan Wang9State Key Laboratory of Mountain Hazards and Engineering Resilience, Key Laboratory of Mountain Hazards and Earth Surface Process, Institute of Mountain Hazards and Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chengdu, 610299, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, ChinaState Key Laboratory of Mountain Hazards and Engineering Resilience, Key Laboratory of Mountain Hazards and Earth Surface Process, Institute of Mountain Hazards and Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chengdu, 610299, China; Branch of Sustainable Mountain Development, Kathmandu Center for Research and Education, CAS-TU, Kathmandu, 44613, Nepal; Corresponding author. State Key Laboratory of Mountain Hazards and Engineering Resilience, Key Laboratory of Mountain Hazards and Earth Surface Process, Institute of Mountain Hazards and Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No.189, Qunxian South Street, Chengdu, Sichuan, 610299, China.School of Civil Engineering, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, 510275, ChinaState Key Laboratory of Mountain Hazards and Engineering Resilience, Key Laboratory of Mountain Hazards and Earth Surface Process, Institute of Mountain Hazards and Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chengdu, 610299, ChinaECMI Team, State Key Laboratory of Tibetan Plateau Earth System, Environment and Resources (TPESER), Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing, 100101, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, ChinaSchool of Geography & Resource Science, Neijiang Normal University, Neijiang, 641100, ChinaKey Laboratory of Water Cycle and Related Land Surface Processes, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, ChinaState Key Laboratory of Mountain Hazards and Engineering Resilience, Key Laboratory of Mountain Hazards and Earth Surface Process, Institute of Mountain Hazards and Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chengdu, 610299, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, ChinaInstitute of Plateau Meteorology, China Meteorological Administration/ Heavy Rain and Drought-Flood Disasters in Plateau and Basin Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Chengdu, 610072, ChinaState Key Laboratory of Mountain Hazards and Engineering Resilience, Key Laboratory of Mountain Surface Processes and Ecological Regulation, Institute of Mountain Hazards and Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chengdu, ChinaVariations in water-sediment fluxes and their driving mechanisms are critical to riverine ecosystems and management. Yet, current estimates of the response of water and sediment flux remain insufficiently quantified, limited by the scarcity of long-term hydrological records in the alpine regions. Here, we leverage decadal observations in the Yarlung Tsangpo River basin, to investigate the dynamic shifts in water-sediment fluxes from 1955 to 2020 and elucidate their linkage to a warming and wetting climate, snowmelt, and environmental greening (including natural- and human-induced greening) in the different spatial and temporal scale. Major drivers of shifts in water-sediment flux are identified by using wavelet coherence and variance partitioning of redundancy analysis. The results highlight that observational data from four gauging stations (i.e., Lhaze, Nugesha, Yangcun, and Nuxia) uncover a substantial decrease in Suspended Sediment Load (SSL) (Nuxia: 12.302 × 104 t/yr, P < 0.05) in the downstream with consistently increasing runoff and precipitation. Especially during the flood season (July to September), the dam/reservoir construction caused a median decrease in SSL. Dropping sediment offsets the slightly rising SSLs in the midstream and upstream (upper Yangcun: 14.8 × 104 t/yr, P > 0.05). Up to 80% of sediment was sourced from the middle stretch between Lhaze and Nugesha despite it supplied with lower regional runoff generation. Nevertheless, the downstream zone experienced the transition from a sediment source to a deposition area around 1998. We further found the negative and positive effects between water-sediment fluxes and revegetation, and demonstrated that employing NDVI to evaluate human-induced vegetation greening might overestimate the impact of ecological restoration programs on water-sediment fluxes. Attribution analysis indicates that precipitation was not the primary contributor to runoff and SSL changes in all stretches of the basin. In the upstream, temperature and associated snowmelt can be more important than precipitation. Compared to before 1998, precipitation is still the primary driver of change in downstream runoff change after 1998, whilst vegetation restoration, rather than precipitation, dominates the reduction in downstream SSL. These findings have far-reaching significance for watershed managers and decision-makers in terms of developing effective strategies for water resources and soil erosion control.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2095633924000728Water-sediment fluxesClimate changeCryosphere degradationRevegetationYarlung tsangpo river basin |
| spellingShingle | Dongmei Zhao Donghong Xiong Kunlong He Baojun Zhang Fan Zhang Han Wu Haiyan Fang Wenduo Zhang Changyan Zhou Xiaodan Wang Non-consistent changes and drivers of water-sediment fluxes in the yarlung tsangpo river basin of the Tibetan plateau International Soil and Water Conservation Research Water-sediment fluxes Climate change Cryosphere degradation Revegetation Yarlung tsangpo river basin |
| title | Non-consistent changes and drivers of water-sediment fluxes in the yarlung tsangpo river basin of the Tibetan plateau |
| title_full | Non-consistent changes and drivers of water-sediment fluxes in the yarlung tsangpo river basin of the Tibetan plateau |
| title_fullStr | Non-consistent changes and drivers of water-sediment fluxes in the yarlung tsangpo river basin of the Tibetan plateau |
| title_full_unstemmed | Non-consistent changes and drivers of water-sediment fluxes in the yarlung tsangpo river basin of the Tibetan plateau |
| title_short | Non-consistent changes and drivers of water-sediment fluxes in the yarlung tsangpo river basin of the Tibetan plateau |
| title_sort | non consistent changes and drivers of water sediment fluxes in the yarlung tsangpo river basin of the tibetan plateau |
| topic | Water-sediment fluxes Climate change Cryosphere degradation Revegetation Yarlung tsangpo river basin |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2095633924000728 |
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