Preprints
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-62
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-62
30 Mar 2023
 | 30 Mar 2023

Regime shift of a large river as a response to Holocene climate change depends on land use – a numerical case study from the Chinese Loess Plateau

Hao Chen, Xianyan Wang, Yanyan Yu, Huayu Lu, and Ronald Van Balen

Abstract. The Wei River catchment in the southern part of the Chinese Loess Plateau (CLP), is one of the centers of the agricultural revolution in China. The area has experienced intense land use changes since ~6000 BCE, which makes it an ideal place to study the response of fluvial systems to anthropogenic land cover change (ALCC). We applied a numerical landscape evolution model that combines the Landlab landscape evolution model with an evapotranspiration model to investigate the direct and indirect effects of ALCC on hydrological and morphological processes in the Wei River catchment since the mid-Holocene. The results show that ALCC not only leads to changes in discharge and sediment load in the catchment but also affects their sensitivity to climate change. When the proportion of agricultural land area exceeded 50 % (around 1000 BCE), the sensitivities of discharge and sediment yield to climate change increased abruptly indicating a regime change in the fluvial catchment. It is associated with a large sediment pulse in the lower reaches. The model simulation results also show a link between human settlement, ALCC and floodplain development: Changes in agricultural land use changes lead to downstream sediment accumulation and floodplain development, which in turn leads to further spatial expansion of agriculture and human settlement.

Hao Chen et al.

Status: closed

Comment types: AC – author | RC – referee | CC – community | EC – editor | CEC – chief editor | : Report abuse
  • RC1: 'Comment on egusphere-2023-62', Anonymous Referee #1, 31 May 2023
    • AC1: 'Reply on RC1', hao chen, 15 Jul 2023
  • RC2: 'Comment on egusphere-2023-62', Weiming liu, 01 Jun 2023
    • AC2: 'Reply on RC2', hao chen, 15 Jul 2023
  • RC3: 'Comment on egusphere-2023-62', Amanda Schmidt, 12 Jun 2023
    • AC3: 'Reply on RC3', hao chen, 15 Jul 2023

Status: closed

Comment types: AC – author | RC – referee | CC – community | EC – editor | CEC – chief editor | : Report abuse
  • RC1: 'Comment on egusphere-2023-62', Anonymous Referee #1, 31 May 2023
    • AC1: 'Reply on RC1', hao chen, 15 Jul 2023
  • RC2: 'Comment on egusphere-2023-62', Weiming liu, 01 Jun 2023
    • AC2: 'Reply on RC2', hao chen, 15 Jul 2023
  • RC3: 'Comment on egusphere-2023-62', Amanda Schmidt, 12 Jun 2023
    • AC3: 'Reply on RC3', hao chen, 15 Jul 2023

Hao Chen et al.

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Short summary
The Wei River catchment, one of the centers of the agricultural revolution in China, has experienced intense land use changes since 6000 BCE. This makes it an ideal place to study the response of river systems to anthropogenic land use chage. The modeling results show the sensitivities of discharge and sediment yield to climate change increased abruptly when the agricultural land area exceeded a threshold around 1000 BCE. This regime shift in the fluvial catchment led to a large sediment pulse.