Abstract
Gauged hydrological data from the past five decades (1960s-2010s) and Google Earth images were used to examine the sediment dynamics and fluvial processes of the Tarim River, the largest inland river in a hyper-arid basin in Northwest China. The Tarim basin has undergone ever-increasing human influences in recent centuries, especially since the 1950s when large-scale land reclamation in the basin has started. The runoffand sediment load to the Tarim River followed a decreasing trend in the past decades, even though the runofffrom source tributaries exhibited a gentle increase. The upper and middle reaches of the main stem river channel has been generally in aggradation, while the lower reaches followed a trend of incision. The sinuosity degree of the current river channel are distinctively lower than those of the old channels, indicating that spatial range and time frequency of the morphologic variations (lateral migration) of the river has decreased.
Original language | English |
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Title of host publication | River Flow 2016 |
Subtitle of host publication | Iowa City, USA, July 11-14, 2016 |
Publisher | CRC Press |
Pages | 1008-1013 |
Number of pages | 6 |
ISBN (Electronic) | 9781317289128 |
ISBN (Print) | 9781315644479 |
State | Published - 22 Jun 2016 |