Late holocene overflow floods of the lower Yellow River led to the shrinkage of downstream lakes.

Abstract

During the late Holocene, frequent floods and diversions of the lower Yellow River altered river-lake relationships, with far-reaching effects on the North China Plain's physical and social geography. Current understanding of historical lower Yellow River flood-lake relationships relies predominantly on historical evidence, lacking sufficient sedimentological verification. This study analyzes sediments from paleo-Dayeze Lake, a major paleolake in the lower reaches, and correlates findings with available historical documents. The results indicate that, first, the three major overflow events of the Yellow River documented in historical records, during Emperor Hanwu's reign, the Five Dynasties period, and early Ming Dynasty were well preserved in the deposits of the paleo-Dayeze Lake area, in particular, the 800 years period of relative stability of the Yellow River following Jing Wang's river regulation project at 69-70 CE, as recorded in historical records, was supported by the sedimentary evidence. Second, the fluvial sediments of the Yellow River became significantly coarser after the Song Dynasty, and after this period, the overflow areas from the Yellow River floods could transform into sandy land. The research confirms that the diversion and overflows of the Yellow River drove paleo-Dayeze Lake's evolution and underscores the value of integrating historical and geological evidence for studying the river-lake systems.