Geography Of The Yellow River

According to China Research and Exploration Society, the source of the Yellow River is at 34 29 31.1N, 96 20 24.6E near the eastern edge of the Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Yushu. Source to sink tribituaries Gyaring Ngoring Lake and Lake on the western edge of Golog Prefecture high in the mountains in a Bayan Qinghai Province in the far west of China. In Zoige basin along the border of Gansu Province, the loops of the Yellow River to the northwest then northeast before turning south, creating "Ordos Loop", and then flows generally eastward into the northern China to the Bohai Bay, draining a basin of 752443 km sq (290,520 sq miles), which feeds 140 million people with drinking water and irrigation.
The river is usually divided into three phases. It is essentially the northern Tibetan Plateau, the Ordos loop and the North China Plain. However, different experts have different opinions on how the three phases are divided.This article follows the division used by the Yellow River Conservancy Commission.

Upper Raches


The upper Yellow River, is a segment from its source to Bayan has mountains and ends at Hekou County of Inner Mongolia just before it turns sharply to the north. This segment has a total length of 3472 km (2157 mi) and total pool of 386000 km sq (149,000 sq mi), 51.4% of the total area of ​​the basin. Along this length, drops the height of the Yellow River 3496 meters, with an average grade of 0.01%.
The section of the fountain flows mainly through the grasslands, swamps and mountains, the mountains of Bayan Har (巴 颜 喀啦 山脉) and Anemaqen (Amne Machin) Mountains. The river is clear and consistent flow. Clear lakes are characteristic of this section. The two main lakes along this section of the lake Zhaling (扎陵湖) and Lake Eling (鄂陵湖), with a capacity of 4.7 billion and 10.8 billion cubic meters (166 and 381 000 000 000 ft3), respectively. At an altitude of 4290 meters over (14,070 ft)) above the sea, are the two largest freshwater lakes in China plateau. A significant amount of land in the area of ​​origin of the Yellow River has been designated as the Sanjiangyuan ("Three Rivers" Sources ") of the National Nature Reserve to protect the source region of Yellow River, the Yangtze and Mekong.
The section extends from the throat Longyang Gorge in Qinghai Qingtong valley in Gansu. Line of cliffs on both sides of river. The water bed is narrow and the average decline is large, so that the flow in this section is very turbulent and fast. There are 20 guns in this section, the most famous of them. As the Longyang, Jishi, Liujia, Qingtong Bapan and gorges flow conditions in this section is the best location for hydroelectric plants.
After leaving the Qingtong creek, the river enters a broad alluvial plain section of the Yinchuan Plain and the plain Hetao. In this section, the regions along the river are mostly deserts and grasslands, with few tributaries. The flow is slow. Hetao the plain has a length of 900 km (560 miles) wide and 30 to 50 km (20-30 miles). It is the story of the plain of the largest irrigation along the Yellow River.

Middle Reaches
Part of the Yellow River (see Ordos Loop) between Hekou County, Inner Mongolia, Inner Mongolia and Henan Zhengzhou form in the middle of the river can be reached. Reaching half of 1206 km (749 miles) long, the pool area of ​​344 000 square kilometers (133,000 km ²), 45.7% of the total, a total profit falls to 890 meters (2920 feet), the decrease average of 0074%. There are 30 major tributaries along the middle course, and the flow of water has increased from 43.5% in this scene. Intermediate River, contributes 92% of silt.
In the middle of the power of the Yellow River passes through Loess Plateau, where erosion occurs significantly. A large amount of mud and sand discharged into the river makes the Yellow River the most sediment load of rivers in the world. The highest annual level of silt the Yellow River is discharged 3910000000 tonnes in 1933. The highest concentration of sludge was recorded in 1977 to 920 kg / m³ (57.4 lb/ft3). These later sediments of the river downstream of the deposit below the elevation of the river bottom, creating the 'above the famous river. "
From Yumenkou Hekou County, the river crosses the longest continuous series of valleys, the main course, collectively known as Jinshan Valley. A hydrodynamic rich resources stored in this section makes the second best area to build hydroelectric power plants. Hukou famous waterfall is less a part of this valley.

Lower Reaches

In the lower ranks of Zhengzhou to the sea at a distance of 786 km (488 mi), the river is limited to a dyke lined course as it flows north on the North China Plain before emptying into the Bohai Sea. The pool in this phase is only 23,000 square kilometers (8,900 square miles), only 3% of the total, with only a few tributaries add to the traffic in this phase, almost all rivers in the south to flow into the Huai River, while running north into the Hai River. The overall decrease in the increase of depression is 93.6 meters (307 feet), with an average grade of 0.012%.
Limo received sediments from the middle here, raising the riverbed. For 2,000 years the construction of dams, excessive deposits of sediment have raised the riverbed several meters above the surrounding soil.
In Kaifeng, the Yellow River is 10 meters (33 feet) above ground level.

Pollution In The Yellow River

On 25 November 2008 Tania Branigan of the guardian.co.uk, presented a report on China's mother river, the Yellow River, claiming that a serious contamination was a third of China Yellow River unusable even for agricultural use or industrial use, because the emissions factory and wastewater in rapidly growing cities.
The study, based on data taken last year, included more than 8384 miles (13,493 kilometers) of the river, one of the longest waterway in the world and its tributaries.
Yellow River Conservancy Commission in 2007, involved more than 8384 miles (13493 km) of the river, said the 33.8% recorded in the water level of less than five. According to the criteria of the level of UNEP, five inappropriate drinking, aquaculture, industry and even agriculture.
The report says, waste and wastewater is discharged into the system last year amounted to 4.29bn tonnes. Industrial and manufacturing accounted for 70% of discharge into the river with households accounting for 23% and just over 6% from other sources.

Features Of The Yellow River

Its average flow is said to be 2110 meters cubic per second (32,000 by the Yangtze River), with a maximum of 25,000 and a minimum of 245.
Yellow River is an important and a large amount of mud has been transported, 1600000000 tonnes per year at the point where it descends to the plateau of loess. If you are running into the sea in sufficient quantity, 1.4 billion tonnes transported to the sea every year.
In modern times, at its first dry since 1972, the river dried up in the lower reaches several times, from Jinan to the sea in most years in 1997 for 226 days. The low volume due to increased irrigation in agriculture, with a factor of five since 1950. Water diverted from the river that was used in 1999 140 million people and 74,000 km ² of irrigated land (48,572 km ²) of land.The largest volume occurs during the rainy season from July to October, where 60% of the Annual river flows. The maximum demand for irrigation is needed between March and June To capture excess water for use when necessary, and for flood control and power generation, several dams were built, but due to high silt load in their lives should be limited.
A South-North Water Transfer Project involves several schemes to divert water from the Yangtze River, one in the upper rivers of the west, where they are closest to each other, one of the upper Han River, and a third by route of the Grand Canal.
Because of its large sediment load of the Yellow River flow is a deposit, which deposits its load of earth in his bed in sections where it flows slowly. These deposits to raise the bed of the river flowing between the levees at the bottom. If there is a flood, the river is out of the dikes in the flood plain around and take a new direction. Historically, this has happened once every hundred years. In modern times, efforts have been made to strengthen the levees and flood control.
Flooding of the Yellow River for two reasons. First, the North China Plain is very flat and there is no natural valley. Reached in many places the sea in Shanghai, Tianjin, Shandong, with the exception of the mountain area. Secondly, the loess plateau of the mud of the river makes a very muddy, which is why the river is called the "yellow". An estimate gives 34 kg of sludge per cubic meter compared to 10 in Colorado and the Nile. When the river leaves the Plateau of Shanxi, the slurry is deposited in the riverbed. Eventually, the bed of the river is too low and the river is forced to find a new direction. The people responded with the construction of levees on the banks, but the silting continued to force people to build the levees higher. When the floodwaters finally broke through the levees, was not able to drain back into the river bed, because it is normal after the floods after the river bed was now higher than the surrounding terrain. Yellow River Delta in a total of 8000 square kilometers (3,090 miles ²). Since 1996 he has been reported to be shrinking slightly each year erosion.

The History Of The Yellow River Changed

The river is prone to flooding. Were flooded in 1593 after years 3000-4000, while the main course has changed 12 times, with at least five large-scale changes from 602 BC to the present. Another source says that more than 1500 floods and course changes 26 (9 large) in 3000 years. These changes, of course, are due to the large amount of loess carried by the river and deposited continuously along the bottom of the river channel. This sedimentation causes a natural dam that accumulate slowly. Finally, the enormous amount of water must find a new way of the sea, causing a flood in a new valley. Flooding was unpredictable, making it difficult for farmers.
 

Antiquity

Historical maps of spring and during Automne and the Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC), the Yellow River, then flowed north of the current exchange rate. These maps show that the river passes in Luoyang, ran along the border of Shanxi and Henan provinces, then continued along the border of Hebei and Shandong before emptying into Bohai Bay near present-day Tianjin.
The river changed its channel, so flooding 602.Major 11 EC is said to be in September in the autumn of Xin Dynasty (AD 9-23), when the river changed its course, once a north, near Tianjin, south of Shandong Peninsula.
According to Tregear, 10 century BC, a branch was followed by the current price, while a wider scope of the sea near Tianjin, different paths, 602 BC, he moved south of Shantung, AD-70 returned to the present course in 1048 is moved to Tianjin in 1324, he returned to the south of Shantung, and in 1851 took on its present course.

The Middle Ages

A major shift in 1194 took the Huai River drainage system over the next 700 years. Dirt blocked the mouth of the Yellow River, Huai River and thousands homeless. Yellow River on the current path in 1897, when the percentage change last occurred in 1855. Currently, the Yellow River flows in Jinan, capital of Shandong Province, and ends on the Bohai Sea, but the eastern end to stop the Yellow River has ranged from the north and south of Shandong Peninsula, in its many dramatic changes over time.
Changed the course of the river along the path of the Huai River and Yellow River, the original route several times over the past 700 years. Consequently, the accumulation of sediment, which was so heavy that the Huai River flowed to the historic course after the Yellow River returned to its northerly course for the last time in 1897.  On the contrary, the pools of water up Hongze lake and then runs south of the Yangtze River.
In flood the river for some of the deadliest natural disasters ever recorded. The flatness of the plain of northern China is contributing to the lethality of flooding. A slight increase in the level of water means that much of the ground is covered with water. When a flood occurs, a portion of the population died by drowning in the first, and then by the spread of disease and famine that followed.
The Yellow River flood of 1887 in the North China Plain has caused 900,000 deaths and 2,000,000.

Recently

The river gets its yellow color, a vase of fine limestone, mainly comes from the Loess Plateau and transported in the stream. Centuries of sediment deposition and dams has caused the river to flow above the surrounding terrain, making flooding a critically dangerous problem. Flooding of the Yellow River has caused some of the greatest number of deaths in world history, with the 1887 Huang He flood killing 900,000 to 2,000,000 and the 1931 Huang He flood killing an estimated 1 million to 4 million in the plain northern China.
On June 9, 1938, during the Second Sino-Japanese War broke out Nationalist troops under Chiang Kai-shek the levees, which prevent the river near the village of Henan Huayuankou causing what is called a "war caused by a natural disaster. "The purpose of the operation was to stop the advance of Japanese troops by following a strategy of" using water as a substitute for the troops "(Yishui daibing). The flooding of an area covering 54,000 km ² and has taken some 500,000 to 900,000 lives, while an unknown number of Japanese soldiers were killed. The floods have prevented the Japanese army to the city of Zhengzhou, but not prevent them from achieving their goal of capturing Wuhan, the city that served as temporary capital of China at the time.
Another historical source of devastating floods in the collapse of ice dams upstream of Inner Mongolia, with the sudden release of large amounts of water confiscated. There were 11 such major floods of the last century, each causing a huge loss of lives and property. Today, air-dropped explosives used to break the ice dams before they become dangerous.

Yellow River In Culture

Mother River, the pain of China.

Traditionally, it is believed that the origin of Chinese civilization in the Yellow River Basin. The Chinese refer to the river as the "mother river" and the "cradle of Chinese civilization." During the long history of China, the Yellow River is considered a blessing and a curse, and has been dubbed as "The Pride of China" (simplified Chinese: 中国 的 骄傲, Traditional Chinese: 中国 的 骄傲, pinyin: Zhōngguóde Jiāo'ào ) and "China Sorrow" (simplified Chinese: 中国 的 痛, Traditional Chinese: 中国 的 痛, pinyin: Zhōngguóde Tong).

Yellow River

The Yellow River or Huang He / Hwang Ho (simplified Chinese: 黄河, Traditional Chinese: 黄河; pinyin: Huang Han, Mongolian: Hatan Gol, the queen of the river) is the second longest river in China (after Yangtze River) and sixth longest in the world the estimated duration of 5464 km (3395 miles). Bayan was originally from the mountains in Qinghai Province in western China, it passes through nine provinces in China, and empties into the Bohai Sea. The Yellow River basin has an east-west extent of 1900 km (1180 miles) and a north-south extension of 1100 km (684 mi). The total area of ​​the basin is 742,443 km² (290,520 km ²).
The Yellow River is called the "cradle of Chinese civilization," as its basin is the cradle of ancient civilizations in China and was the most prosperous region in early Chinese history. But the frequency of devastating floods, when the silt coming down from the top bed of the river reached high in the lower reaches higher and higher, sometimes above the level of surrounding fields, has also earned the unenviable name "grief China "and" scourge of the Sons of Han. "
Early Chinese literature refers to the Yellow River simply as He (河), the word has come to mean simply "river" in modern language (in ancient times, though, 川 水, and is used in the sense "river"). The first appearance of the name "Yellow River" (黄河) is in the Book of Han (simplified Chinese: 汉书, Traditional Chinese: 汉书, pinyin: Han Shu), written during the Western Han Dynasty (206 BC JC -9). The name "Yellow River" describes the intense yellow of the murky water in the lower river. The yellow color comes from loess suspended in water.
Sometimes, the Yellow River is poetically called "mud flow" (simplified Chinese: 浊流, Traditional Chinese: 浊流, pinyin: Liu Zhuo). The Chinese proverb "when the Yellow River flows clear" is used to refer to an event that will never happen and is similar to the expression "When pigs fly."