Driving Factors Analysis on Evolution of Water and Sediment at Datong Station

Datong hydrological station is the first key interface to enter the Yangtze estuary, thereby, the relationship between hydrology and sediment directly affects not only the spatial and temporal distribution of suspended sediment in the Yangtze estuary, but also the evolution of Yangtze delta. Further research on the driving factors of the relationship between water and sediment at Datong Station will be helpful to better understand the pattern of sediment transport in the Yangtze River basin, and to provide a scientific basis for an in-depth study on the evolution of the basin landscape and its response to human activities. Based on the mathematical statistics method, we qualitatively and quantitatively studied the effects of climate change and human activities on water and sediment characteristics at Datong Station from the precipitation and runoff change, water and soil engineering and so on. The results indicate that the climate change affects the change of water and sediment transport to a certain extent, and more reflects in the effect of long-term changes in sediment transport. However, the influence of large water conservancy and other human activities on sediment transport reflects mainly in the trend and time points of abrupt change. Human activities are the direct and main cause for water and sediment changes at Datong Station.