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Sedimentary records reveal two stages of evolution of the Abandoned Yellow River Delta from AD1128 to AD1855: vertical accretion and land-forming

Sedimentary records reveal two stages of evolution of the Abandoned Yellow River Delta from... In AD1128, the Yellow River shifted its course from the Bohai Sea to the South Yellow Sea (SYS) due to anthropo- genic dike excavation, starting the development of the Abandoned Yellow River Delta (AYRD) that lasted for more than 700 years (AD1128-1855). However, the sediment flux of the abandoned Yellow River into the sea is in a state of change due to human activities, and the growth process of the AYRD is not well understood. Here, we investigate the growth process of the AYRD and its sedimentary record characteristics over the last millennium based on three cores collected from the AYRD. The results show that the main sediment types in the AYRD are silt, mud and sandy silt. After AD1128, the grain size components in the sediments of the AYRD showed significant stage changes with the sand content first starting to decrease. The clay content increased and remained at a high percentage in the middle to late 14th century, followed by a sharp increase from the mid-16th to the mid-17th century, due to a further increase in sediment flux from the abandoned Yellow River into the sea. A slight increase in the proportion of sand content during the final stage of the transition from subaqueous delta to terrestrial delta is a distinctive feature of the sedimentary record, and this change persists for 10 ~ 90 years in different core records. This study further proposes a schematic model of the development of the AYRD: (a) before the 16th century, the sedi- ments were deposited mainly in the estuary and nearshore, with rapid vertical accretion; (b) After the 16th century, the horizontal land formation was the main focus, and the rate of seaward extension increased rapidly. This model also reflects the following pattern: when the sediment flux from the river into the sea is certain, the rate of land for - mation is inversely proportional to the rate of vertical accretion. The dominant factors affecting the evolution of the AYRD are the sediment flux into the sea and initial submerged topography, with less influence from sea level changes. Hydrodynamic erosion by wave and tidal forces from the outer delta began to dominate after the interruption of sedi- ment supply due to the Yellow River mouth northward to the Bohai Sea in AD1855. This study has important implica- tions for understanding the growth and evolution of deltas under the influence of human activities. Keywords Abandoned Yellow River Delta, Growth processes, Human activities, Sediment flux *Correspondence: Jianjun Jia jjjia@sklec.ecnu.edu.cn Full list of author information is available at the end of the article © The Author(s) 2023. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http:// creat iveco mmons. org/ licen ses/ by/4. 0/. Xue et al. Anthropocene Coasts (2023) 6:8 Page 2 of 14 whereas there was a large sediment flux reaching the sea 1 Introduction after the Yellow River joining the Huaihe River. It is esti- Deltas rank among the most economically and ecologi- mated that during the first 300 years of the Yellow River cally valuable environments on Earth (Nienhuis et  al. southward shift (AD1194 ~ AD1495), annual sediment 2020). With increasing anthropogenic influence, many load of the abandoned Yellow River channel was about of large deltas face severe pressure from urbanization, 0.6 ~ 1.0 billion tons per year (Zhang 1998; Ren 2006) of land-use changes, socio-economic transformation, cli- which about 40% ~ 57.6% (Chen et al. 2018) accumulated mate change, and episodic natural hazards (Giosan et al. on the river channel and the alluvial plain, and the rest of 2014; Musa et al. 2014; Lin et al. 2020). At present, sedi- the sediment sank into the sea. During the next 360 years ment fluxes in many of the world’s large rivers have been (AD1495 ~ AD1855), the annual sediment load of the drastically reduced (Syvitski et  al. 2009), which is affect - abandoned Yellow River channel increased to about ing delta morphology and may lead to erosion (Syvitski 1.0 ~ 1.6 billion tons per year due to the embankment of et  al. 2009; Tessler et  al. 2015). Deltas are increasingly the north bank of the river and the closure of the chan- vulnerable to coastal hazards with expected accelerated nel on the north side of the river (Zhang 1998; Ren 2006), sea-level rise (Nerem et  al. 2018). A better understand- correspondingly enhancing the sediment flux into the ing of how deltas grow can help address these threats and SYS. The sediment flux of the abandoned Yellow River challenges. here for more than 700  years has been influenced by a The Yellow River is the most sediment-laden river in combination of natural and anthropogenic factors, thus the world, with an average suspended sediment concen- also influencing the growth process of the delta. tration of 35 ~ 40  kg/m (Ren 2006; Milliman and Farns- Due to the exploitation of oil–gas resources or the worth 2011). The lower reaches of the Yellow River have overall development program in the Yellow River Delta, become a suspended river on the ground due to the silta- the study of the Yellow River Delta located in Bohai Bay tion, with an elevation even be more than 10 m in some has made great progress. Many scholars have conducted sections of the river (Xie 1999; Yu 2002). The river with thorough studies on the evolution of the Yellow River high suspended sediment concentration breaks through Delta, sedimentation patterns, depositional environ- the embankment, causing the lower reaches and estuar- ments, and the geological aspects of delta erosion and ies to swing and shift frequently. In the past 2600  years, disasters (Bornhold et  al. 1986; Xue et  al. 1995; Saito there have been 26 major shifts in the lower 600 km long et  al. 2000; Liu et  al. 2014, 2019; Wu et  al. 2015; Zhang section of the Yellow River (Wang and Liu 2019). Two of et  al. 2018). In contrast, the sedimentary evolution of the larger shifts of the Yellow River in the last 1000 years the AYRD remains more questionable due to fewer long- occurred in AD1128 and AD1855, respectively. The for - length cores and lack of precise chronological framework mer was caused by anthropogenic dike excavation, from in the terrestrial part of the AYRD. What are the char- flowing north into the Bohai Sea to joining the Huaihe acteristics of the growth-evolution process of this delta? River and eventually fully merging into the SYS, whereas And what are the main factors influencing the growth the latter was a natural shift, with the Yellow River of delta in different stages. The choice of the AYRD, a returning to its former course and re-entering the Bohai representative delta of growth, is conducive to further Sea. understanding of delta growth processes by exploring the The massive accumulation of sediments brought by evolution of the delta in time and space. the southward shift of the Yellow River over 700  years formed the AYRD at the former Huaihe River mouth. The 2 Materials and methods delta cannot grow without sediment supply. For a long 2.1 Study area time, the sediment flux to the sea of the Yellow River has During more than 700  years from 1128 to 1855 AD, the been influenced by both human activities and climate mouth of the Yellow River shifted southward to the SYS, change. The sediment flux reaching the sea after the sev - forming the AYRD along the Jiangsu coast. The terres - enth century AD was basically increasing, reaching its trial AYRD is located in the north Jiangsu Provence, and peak around AD1855 (Wu et  al. 2020), which provided its apex is located in Yuntiguan site, covering an area of abundant sediment supply for the growth of the AYRD. about 7000 km (Zhang 1984). The SYS is mainly influ - In addition, during its growth, annual sediment load of enced by the semidiurnal tides, with a tidal range of the abandoned Yellow River had been altered accord- about 1 ~ 4  m on average (Liu et  al. 2013). The western ingly by a series of anthropogenic activities such as levee SYS is dominated by a convergent-divergent tidal current breaches, embankments, and river management in the field centered on the Jianggang in the southern part of basin. The sediment flux of original Huaihe River into the study area (Li et al. 2001). sea was 100 ~ 200 million tons per year (Zhang 1998), X ue et al. Anthropocene Coasts (2023) 6:8 Page 3 of 14 Fig. 1 Location of study area and cores distribution The study area and the distribution of sampling sta - Table 1 Statistics of cores information in the study area tions are shown in Fig.  1. In order to study the devel- Core No. Longitude (E) Latitude (N) Length (m) Time opment and evolution history of the AYRD, two cores X02 15.20 2019/6/14 (X02 and X03) were collected on the left and right 119°51′20.93″ 33°56′40.10″ sides of the mouth of the original Huaihe River (out- X03 119°47′47.70″ 34°14′56.32″ 15.20 2019/6/15 side of Yuntiguan site, which is the apex of the terres- X04 20.60 2019/6/16 120°16′25.72″ 34°17′29.05″ trial AYRD), and one core (X04) was collected on the front edge of the terrestrial AYRD. Borehole cores were obtained by the rotary drilling rig method in 2019, 30% hydrogen peroxide (H O ) and 10% hydrochloric 2 2 and their recovery rate was basically above 95%. The acid (HCl) in order to remove organic matter and car- segmented cores are extended proportionally to the bonates, respectively. After treatment with H O and 2 2 planned collection length to eliminate the effects of HCl, the raw sediment samples were then rinsed and wet- compression. The information about the cores is shown sieved to retain the grain-size fractions of 45 ~ 63  μm. in Table 1. The grains were then etched using 30% H SiF for 2 6 3 ~ 4 days and 40% HF for 40 min, respectively, and then 2.2 OSL da ting and the development of dating framework washed with HCl and water to isolate the quartz grains. Eighteen samples were collected from three cores for The purity of the isolated quartz was checked by infra - Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) dating. All red stimulated luminescence measurements to ensure no OSL sample preparations and measurements were per- feldspar contamination was present in any of the samples formed under dim red light in order to avoid optical (Duller 2003). bleaching effects. After removing the outer layers of the All luminescence measurements, beta irradiation and samples, the inner cores of the samples were treated with preheat treatments were carried out using an automated Xue et al. Anthropocene Coasts (2023) 6:8 Page 4 of 14 Risø-TL/OSL DA-20 DASH reader equipped with a cali- used to calculate the sample statistics of the grain size brated beta (90Sr/90Y) source with an EMI 9235 QA distribution, that is, mean grain size (Mz). The sand- photomultiplier tube (PMT). Neutron activation analy- silt–clay triangle diagram proposed by Folk et al. (1970) sis (NAA) was used to determine the uranium, thorium was used to classify the sediments. and potassium contents of these samples. The water con - tents (weight of water/weight of dry sediment) of these 3 Results samples were measured in the laboratory. The dose rates 3.1 Lithostratigraphic characteristics (DR) and final ages were calculated using the Dose Rate Core X02, 1520  cm long, mainly appears grey-brown, and Age Calculator (’DRAC0) (Durcan et al. 2015). dark grey, brown-grey and green-grey. The composi - The single-aliquot regenerative-dose (SAR) proto - tion is highly variable, with mainly clay, clayed silt and col (Murray and Wintle 2000) was applied to aliquots silty sand. It can be roughly divided into four sections of grains that were 2  mm in diameter in order to deter- according to lithology (Fig. 2). mine the equivalent dose (De) of the samples. The growth 0 ~ 400 cm: grey-brown, clayey silt with high water con- curves were fitted using single saturating exponential tent, soft, strongly cohesive and plastic. There are black functions. All OSL ages are reported relative to AD2019. carbonaceous spots at 110 ~ 112  cm and 113 ~ 117  cm, The experiments were performed at the State Key Labo - and scattered shell fragments at 110 ~ 111 cm. ratory of Estuarine and Coastal Research, East China 400 ~ 850  cm: greyish brown, silty sand with low Normal University, Shanghai. water content, dense, non-cohesive, non-plastic. T = , where T is the sediment burial time, and De is 850 ~ 1350  cm: mainly brownish grey and dark grey, DR the equivalent dose, and DR is the annual dose rate. clayey silt with medium water content, soft, weakly The Bacon model is a stepwise autoregressive gamma cohesive, plastic. The 1320 ~ 1330  cm section is inter- procedure based on the Bpeat model concept by Blaauw spersed with many scattered shell fragments, ranging and Christen (2005, 2011). An optimal age-depth curve is from 1 to 5 mm in diameter. finally obtained with 95% confidence interval. The Bacon 1350 ~ 1520 cm: greenish grey, stiff clay layer with a lot procedure uses Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) of concretions, ranging from 0.5 to 8 cm in diameter and for iterative operations, which can greatly reduce the with brownish yellow rust spots; very low water content, age error range with higher reasonableness and accuracy slightly consolidated, strongly cohesive but not plastic. (Blaauw and Christen 2005). Core X03, 1520  cm long, is mainly brown and brownish-grey, silty to clayey silt. It can be divided 2.3 G rain size analysis into two sections according to lithology. Grain size analysis of 2 cm sub-samples was conducted 0 ~ 245  cm: mainly brownish-grey and greyish- using the Mastersizer-2000 laser particle analyzer, brown, clayey silty sand with low water content, soft, which has a measurement range of 0.02 ~ 2000 µm with strongly cohesive and plastic. There are bioturbation a relative error of < 3% for repeated measurements. phenomena at 142 ~ 145 cm and 207 ~ 215 cm. The experiment was completed at the Key Laboratory 245 ~ 1520  cm: mainly brownish-grey and grey silt of Coast and Island Development, Nanjing University, with medium–high water content, soft, strongly cohe- Nanjing. The matrix formula of McManus (1988) was sive and plastic. There is bioturbation at 420 ~ 440  cm Fig. 2 Geologic column of cores X02(a), X03(b), and X04(c) X ue et al. Anthropocene Coasts (2023) 6:8 Page 5 of 14 and scattered shell fragments at 443 cm. It is intercalated (Liu et  al. 2010a) separating it from the overlying unit. with grey-black, high water thin (5 ~ 20  mm thick) sand In order for the Bacon model to run better and thus bandings or lenses at 1380 ~ 1420 cm. obtain an accurate dating framework for the last millen- Core X04, 2060 cm long, shows mainly brownish and nium, only four samples above 13 m depth were selected brownish-grey silt and sand, with black carbonaceous for the core X02 for dating simulations. The Bacon run - spots or bandings at 120 ~ 400  cm. It can be roughly ning result contains the 95% confidence ranges, median divided into two sections according to lithology. and mean ages for each depth, and red curve shows sin- 0 ~ 960 cm: brownish and brownish-grey silt with low gle "best" model based on the mean age for each depth water content, soft, weakly cohesive and plastic. Black (Fig.  3). So, we choose the mean age as the value for the carbonaceous spots or bandings occur in many lay- dating framework and use it to calculate the deposition ers , such as 125 ~ 128  cm, 177 ~ 178  cm, 188 ~ 193  cm, rates. It was found that the sediment age above 13  m in 197 ~ 198  cm, 201 ~ 205  cm, 391 ~ 392  cm and X02 ranged from AD941 (± 125) to AD1573 (± 134), and 865 ~ 866 cm. Clayed silt or clay bandings occur in many after AD1573 (± 134), it almost stopped receiving sedi- layers, for example, in 683 ~ 691 cm and 943 ~ 944 cm. ment supply. 960 ~ 2060  cm: brownish-grey sand with high water Similarly, the dating framework was established for content, dense, almost non-cohesive and non-plastic. core X03 and core X04. The chronological depositional sequence for core X03 ranges from AD983 (± 108) to 3.2 Da ting framework and deposition rate AD1784 (± 94); the chronological depositional sequence Six samples of core X02 at 2.55  m, 6.70  m, 10.55  m, for core X04 ranges from AD114 (± 289) to AD1856 12.70 m, 13.48 m, and 15.00 m were selected, respectively. (± 128). The ages of the samples were 0.56 ± 0.07 kyr, 0.80 ± 0.11 Based on the established dating framework, relatively kyr, 0.80 ± 0.05 kyr, 1.09 ± 0.13 kyr, 19.64 ± 0.07 kyr, unique layers were selected in each core to analyze dep- 33.80 ± 4.40 kyr (Table  2), with no age inversions. How- osition rate variations in these sections (Table  3). It was ever, the dating results of X02 show that the upper and found that deposition rates in core X02 ranged from 2.0 lower sections are distinct at 13  m depth: the ages of to 2.3  cm/yr, in X03 from 1.7 to 2.0  cm/yr, and in X04 upper section were over the past 1000  years; the ages of from 1.0 to 1.4  cm/yr (Fig.  4). The overall performance lower section were during the 34 ~ 20 kyr period, indi- is an increase in deposition rate after the Yellow River cating that the deposition rate of cores in this section southward shift, with a larger rate in the early stages and is extremely low with a 15  cm-thick erosional bed here a slightly lower rate in the later stages. Table 2 Optically stimulated luminescence dating results of cores X02, X03, and X04 Core Sample Depth (m) U (ppm) Th (ppm) K (%) Rb (ppm) Water (%) Dose Rate (Gy/kyr) De (Gy) Age (kyr) No. No. (relative to AD2019) X02 X02-4 2.55 2.28 13.40 2.01 115.0 36 2.83 ± 0.12 1.57 ± 0.18 0.56 ± 0.07 X02-8 6.70 1.90 9.34 1.74 77.2 27 2.43 ± 0.11 1.94 ± 0.25 0.80 ± 0.11 X02-12 10.55 2.23 12.00 2.14 116.0 39 2.67 ± 0.11 2.15 ± 0.09 0.80 ± 0.05 X02-14 12.70 2.28 13.90 2.30 126.0 44 2.79 ± 0.12 3.03 ± 0.34 1.09 ± 0.13 X02-15 13.48 2.05 10.70 1.82 103.0 29 2.76 ± 0.12 54.10 ± 1.45 19.64 ± 0.07 X02-16 15.00 2.63 16.70 2.52 132.0 25 3.67 ± 0.16 123.80 ± 15.10 33.80 ± 4.40 X03 X03-2 1.03 2.42 14.50 2.33 128.0 22 3.57 ± 0.16 0.58 ± 0.16 0.16 ± 0.04 X03-5 4.00 2.21 13.20 2.17 117.0 49 2.61 ± 0.10 1.22 ± 0.11 0.47 ± 0.05 X03-10 8.45 2.53 15.40 2.34 131.0 48 2.86 ± 0.11 1.77 ± 0.16 0.62 ± 0.06 X03-11 9.97 2.33 13.60 2.18 120.0 41 2.77 ± 0.11 1.90 ± 0.13 0.69 ± 0.05 X03-16 14.98 2.30 11.70 1.96 101.0 28 2.78 ± 0.12 2.82 ± 0.31 1.02 ± 0.12 X04 X04-2 0.65 2.30 11.60 2.05 104.0 28 2.99 ± 0.13 0.75 ± 0.10 0.25 ± 0.04 X04-6 3.95 2.41 12.60 2.14 111.0 28 3.06 ± 0.13 1.36 ± 0.20 0.45 ± 0.07 X04-9 7.05 2.13 10.40 1.88 88.0 27 2.66 ± 0.11 1.55 ± 0.25 0.58 ± 0.10 X04-13 11.21 2.14 9.38 1.84 89.0 26 2.57 ± 0.11 1.20 ± 0.22 0.47 ± 0.09 X04-16 14.00 2.14 9.38 1.84 89.0 26 2.65 ± 0.12 1.59 ± 0.25 0.60 ± 0.10 X04-19 16.95 2.43 11.40 1.70 73.8 25 2.48 ± 0.11 2.35 ± 0.34 0.95 ± 0.14 X04-21 19.30 2.13 10.10 1.69 74.2 25 2.41 ± 0.09 6.07 ± 0.98 2.52 ± 0.42 Xue et al. Anthropocene Coasts (2023) 6:8 Page 6 of 14 Fig. 3 Dating framework of core X02, X03, and X04. The grey dotted line indicates the 95% confidence interval; red curve shows the single “best” model based on the mean age at each depth 3.3 G rain size characteristics of sediments sharp increase in sand content perhaps due to the scour- In conjunction with the dating framework established in ing of riverbed sand. There were two increases in clay the previous section, changes in the grain size fraction of content in cores X02 and X03, in AD1376, AD1513 and the sediments are observed over time. The results show AD1362, AD1637, respectively, whereas an increase in a significant shift in the sediment sequence of the AYRD clay content occurred for X04 in AD1362. The first time due to the fine-grained sediments of the abandoned Yel - of clay content increase is close in three cores which low River source. After AD1128, the grain size of the sed- indicate the AYRD entered a period of rapid develop- iments becomes finer: the mean grain size distribution of ment. The second clay content increase only occurred X02 ranges from 5.7φ to 6.8φ, with a mean value of 6.6φ; in core X02 and X03 with time difference which may the mean grain size distribution of X03 ranges from 5.7φ related to the increase of sediment flux. Although there to 8.1φ, with a mean value of 6.9φ; the mean grain size are some minor differences, the three cores share com - distribution of X04 distribution ranges from 5.9φ to 6.6φ, mon features with changes in three steps: (i) a sudden with a mean value of 6.3φ (Fig. 5). decrease in sand content just after the Yellow River In addition, the grain size fraction of the sediments joined the Huaihe River; (ii) a sudden increase in clay changes in stages, with a general decrease in the sand content in the sediments in the mid-late 14th and mid- fraction and an increase in the clay fraction, particularly 16th to mid-17th centuries; and (iii) a slight increase in in core X03 and X04. The depositional sequence of core the proportion of sand in the sediments during the final X02 is somewhat unique in that it experienced a brief stage of deltaic land-forming which continued for about decrease in sand content after AD1135, followed by a 10 ~ 90 years. X ue et al. Anthropocene Coasts (2023) 6:8 Page 7 of 14 Table 3 The ages in unique layers and the deposition rates of cores X02, X03, and X04 Core No. Depth (cm) Ages (AD) deposition rates (cm/ Min Max Median Mean yr) X02 0 1447 1714 1571 1573 2.00 156 1376 1624 1493 1495 2.03 398 1259 1495 1376 1376 2.10 780 1072 1306 1196 1194 2.22 840 1045 1277 1169 1167 2.16 909 1013 1244 1138 1135 2.29 925 1007 1236 1131 1128 2.00 1300 808 1058 944 941 —— X03 0 1687 1875 1785 1784 1.94 120 1630 1804 1724 1722 1.72 266 1552 1719 1637 1637 1.71 367 1500 1658 1578 1578 1.90 525 1417 1573 1495 1495 1.97 787 1286 1435 1362 1362 1.96 971 1192 1343 1268 1268 1.93 1114 1107 1275 1194 1194 1.91 1240 1031 1218 1128 1128 1.90 1259 1021 1209 1119 1118 1.93 1520 872 1088 983 983 —— X04 0 1740 1996 1850 1856 1.24 318 1485 1733 1597 1600 1.32 347 1462 1709 1575 1578 1.36 460 1373 1628 1493 1495 1.38 500 1342 1599 1465 1466 1.38 644 1225 1503 1361 1362 1.35 870 1029 1353 1195 1194 1.33 930 978 1313 1149 1149 1.29 957 954 1295 1129 1128 1.24 1342 593 1024 820 818 1.02 1976 -86 469 199 198 1.00 2060 -181 396 115 114 —— The deposition rate in the table is corresponding to the distance between the depth of the cell below and the cell in this row, i.e., 2.00 cm/yr in the first row of core X02 is the average deposition rate in the depth of 0 ~ 156 cm Although the timing of the sedimentary record dif- growth stage I, II and III, with a corresponding change in fers slightly from the event of the southward shift of sediment type. After the Yellow River southward shift, the Yellow River (AD1128 ~ AD1855), the sedimentary there was a basic change from two types of silty sand and sequences of three cores essentially show sedimentary sandy silt to two types of silt and mud (Fig.  6). The sedi - changes during the growth of the AYRD, beginning as ment types in the AYRD are mainly silt, mud and, sandy early as AD1135 (X02) and ending as late as AD1856 silt. (X04).The timing of the sedimentary record is basi - cally slightly delayed with the outward extension of the 4 Discussion estuarine location, and also basically reveals the seaward 4.1 Growth process of the Abandoned Yellow River Delta extension of the AYRD. A study of the coastline along the Jiangsu-Shanghai The grain size fraction changes significantly over time, area in the last millennium revealed that X02, X03 and and the sediment sequence can be divided into four X04 have undergone a sea-to-land transition in that stages, before the shift of Yellow River (pre- stage), Delta order (Fig.  7). Based on the precise dating framework Xue et al. Anthropocene Coasts (2023) 6:8 Page 8 of 14 Fig. 4 Variation of vertical deposit rate in the Abandoned Yellow River Delta. The vertical dotted lines mark the years AD1128 and AD1855, and the shaded areas represent the period when the clay content began to increase Fig. 5 Stages change of sediments grain size from the Abandoned Yellow River Delta. a Core X02; b Core X03; c Core X04. The dots (connected by red dashed lines) indicate the year when the sand fraction began to decrease at the beginning of the Yellow River joining Huaihe River, i.e., AD1135 in core X02; the purple dashed lines indicate the AYRD entered a period of rapid development with an increase in the clay fraction, the first occurring in the middle to late 14th century and the second in the mid-16th to the mid-17th century, and that the second occurrence may be related to the increase of sediment flux; the pentagons (connected by blue dashed lines) indicate the final land-forming stage of the AYRD with an increase in the sand fraction. Below the red dashed line is the pre- stage, between the red dashed line and the purple dashed line (the below one) is the growth stage I, between the purple dashed line (the below one) and the blue dashed line is the growth stage II, and above the blue dashed line is the growth stage III established in this study, it can be found that the ages of From AD1128 to AD1855, large amounts of sediment the tops of cores X02, X03, and X04 are AD1573 (± 134), accumulated at the estuary of the abandoned Yellow AD1784 (± 94) and AD1856 (± 128) in that order, which River to form the AYRD. The development process of also implies a sequential postponement of the time of delta is the transition from sea to land, which is mainly land formation. The timing of land formation in each the deposition of sediments outside the estuary, with the core coincides with the shoreline migration in the AYRD, water depth becoming increasingly shallow and eventu- which laterally confirms the reliability of the dating ally transformed to land. The sea-to-land transition is a framework. process of sediment filling the negative topography in the X ue et al. Anthropocene Coasts (2023) 6:8 Page 9 of 14 Fig. 6 Changes in sediment type of Abandoned Yellow River Delta in recent 1000 years. a X02; b X03; c X04 Fig. 7 Relationship between the shoreline changes of Jiangsu and Shanghai in the past thousand years (according to Tan 1982) and the location of the cores used in this study. The land-formation times of cores X02, X03 and X04 are AD1573 (± 134), AD1784 (± 94) and AD1856 (± 128) in that order, which coincide with the shoreline change process of the AYRD, laterally confirming the reliability of the dating framework vertical direction. According to the depth-age framework deposition rate increases continuously, from 1.29  cm/yr established by each core, the deposition rate of cores in to 1.38  cm/yr, but decreases slightly after AD1495. The each period was analyzed (Fig. 4). It was found that X02, deposition rate varies at different locations from the estu - which is in up-estuary, has the largest deposition rate, ary to the sea. In general, the deposition rate decreases almost always above 2 cm/yr, with the fastest deposition seaward, mainly as a result of the land-derived detritus rate of up to 2.29  cm/yr between AD1128 and AD1135. brought by the river filling up-estuary first (Wang et  al. The deposition rate of X03 is basically between 1.71 and 2013). 1.97  cm/yr, and the deposition rate is basically greater During the growth of the AYRD, the sediment flux than 1.96 cm/yr between AD1268 and AD1495. The dep - into the sea is constantly changing, so the growth rate osition rate of X04 is relatively slow and variable, basically of the AYRD is also constantly changing. As far as the less than 1.4 cm/yr. Before AD1128, the deposition rate is research data are concerned, the Yellow River had two less than 1.24 cm/yr. Between AD1128 and AD1495, the major channels to the sea before the 16th century, one Xue et al. Anthropocene Coasts (2023) 6:8 Page 10 of 14 was along the original channel to the Bohai Sea, and one Table 4 Extension of the abandoned Yellow River estuary (From Ye 1986) joined the Huaihe River to the SYS, thus the sediment flux accounted for half of the total sediment of the Yel - Time (AD) Extended Distance to Duration Extension low River, and the annual sediment flux into the sea was distance Yuntiguan time (yr) rate (m/ (km) (km) yr) 260 ~ 600 million tons (Zhang 1998; Ren 2006; Xue et al. 2011; Chen et  al. 2018). Whereas after the 16th century, 1194 ~ 1578 15 15 384 33 due to the construction of dikes on the northern bank of 1579 ~ 1591 20 35 13 1540 the river, the northern channel was cut off and the situ - 1592 ~ 1700 13 48 109 119 ation of north–south flow into the sea ended, from then 1701 ~ 1747 15 63 47 320 on, all of  Yellow River sediments were remitted to the 1748 ~ 1776 6 69 29 190 Huaihe River basin, and the annual sediment flux into the 1777 ~ 1803 3 72 27 111 sea was 430 ~ 960 million tons (Zhang 1998; Ren 2006; 1804 ~ 1810 3.5 75 7 500 Xue et  al. 2011; Chen et  al. 2018). However, the rate of 1811 ~ 1855 14 89 45 300 vertical deposition during the delta growth is inconsist- ent with the sediment flux from the abandoned Yellow River into the sea. Table 5 Rate of land formation in the Abandoned Yellow River The rapidity of delta development is expressed hori - Delta (From Zhang 1984) zontally as the rate of seaward extension of the shore- Time (AD) Area of land Rate of land Rate of shoreline line. Between AD1194 and AD1578, the rate of seaward 2 2 formation (km )formation (km / extension(m/yr) extension was 33  m/yr, whereas between AD1579 and yr) AD1591, the extension rate increased to 1540  m/yr 1128 ~ 1500 1670 3.2 24 (Table 4), an increase of two orders of magnitude, mainly 1500 ~ 1660 1770 11.1 80 due to the increase in sediment flux to the sea during this 1660 ~ 1747 1360 15.6 100 period as a result of river regulation by Liu Daxia and Pan 1747 ~ 1855 2360 21.8 150 Jixun. Between AD1592 and AD1855, the rate of seaward extension of the AYRD slowed to around 205  m/yr, but was much higher than the rate of extension of 33  m/yr between AD1194 and AD1578, an increase of almost one management strategy of “restrain water and attack sand”, order of magnitude in comparison. and the sediment increased, runoff was enhanced. The The rate of horizontal land formation in the AYRD is estuary was largely filled, so that the sediments entering also consistent with the sediment flux from the aban - the sea spread out under the influence of strong run-off, doned Yellow River into the sea. The land-forming rate and the rate of seaward shoreline extension and land for- was 3.2 km /yr between AD1128 and AD1500, and it was mation increased. Therefore, the horizontal growth of almost 4 ~ 7 times higher between AD1500 and AD1855 the delta tends to be more influenced by sediment sup - (Table 5). ply, whereas the vertical deposition rate tends to be more From the perspective of sedimentary geology, there are influenced by the original topography of the estuary. obvious incised valleys in the estuarine area of the Yang- Fluvial deltas are defined as accumulations formed by tze River, with the estuary gradually filling up to form the seaward material of a particular river, and thus the the Yangtze Delta (Hori et  al. 2002). There are no large distal mud is considered to be an important component, incised valleys outside the abandoned Yellow River estu- and the distal mud depositional characteristics also reveal ary in northern Jiangsu, which has been a depressional the stages of river delta evolution (Liu et al. 2014; Jia et al. receiving basin since the Cenozoic (He 2006) and was a 2018). Typically, fluvial deltas evolve in the sequence of trumpet-shaped estuary until the Yellow River southward estuarine bay, estuarine delta, subaqueous delta, and dis- shift, with wider and deeper estuaries, up to 7 ~ 8  km at tal mud of the shelf. After the Holocene high sea level the widest section (Zhang 1984; Li 1991). Before AD1578, period, the estuarine bay was first filled, then the estua - the river channel was wide and the runoff was weak due rine and subaqueous deltas were deposited, after which to the river management strategy of “wide river and the sediments overflowed massively from the estuary and fixed dike” (Xu 2001), and the estuary was in an "unsatu- were transported to more distant sites by the alongshore rated" state for a long time, which provided a wide space of the shelf circulation, forming distal mud deposits (Liu for sediment accumulation. Therefore, sediments from et  al. 2014). The main body of the Yangtze Delta began the early  diversion period were deposited in the estuary to form around 6 kyr B.P. (Hori et  al. 2001; Gao 2007). area and mainly filled the estuary (Fig.  8). After AD1578, For the first 4,000  years, the sediments of Yangtze River the river channel became narrower due to the river were deposited within the large estuary to fill the estuary X ue et al. Anthropocene Coasts (2023) 6:8 Page 11 of 14 Fig. 8 Schematic model of the development of the Abandoned Yellow River Delta. It represents the accumulation process of sediment brought by the abandoned Yellow River, with the center of deposition continuously advancing offshore. Before the 16th century, there was less incoming sediment and the rate of shoreline extension seaward was slower, while the rate of proximal vertical accretion was faster, and the amount of sediment transported offshore was less. After the 16th century, there was relatively more incoming sediment, and the rate of shoreline extension seaward was faster, while the rate of vertical accretion became slower, and the amount of sediment transported offshore increased itself. For the next 2,000  years, sediments escaped from dominated by horizontal land-formation, with the fastest the estuary and spread out onto the open shelf, stretch- seaward extension rate up to 1.5 km/yr. Thus, the rate of ing more than 600 km southward to form the distal mud. land-formation is not only related to the sediment flux, The Yellow River delta near Tianjin began to form around but also related to the original submarine topography 2.34 ~ 5 kyr B.P. (Ren 2006), and the development of the outside the estuary (Yin 1986; Liu et al. 2020). The above distal mud about 500  km away from the estuary began results also basically confirm the theory that the rate almost simultaneously with the delta near the estu- of land formation is inversely proportional to the verti- ary due to lack huge estuarine bay. The place where the cal deposition rate when the flux of fluvial sediment is AYRD developed also did not have a huge estuarine bay, constant. and the sediment supply during its growth period once reached the highest sediment load in the history of the 4.2 Factors influencing the formation of the Abandoned Yellow River, about 0.6 ~ 1.6 billion tons per year (Ren Yellow River Delta 2006). Except for some sediments deposited in the allu- Sediment supply is the material basis for the evolution vial plain inside and outside the river bank, the annual of delta growth, and numerous cases of delta evolution sediment flux to the sea was about 260 ~ 960 million tons show that the magnitude of supply not only determines (Ren 2006; Chen et  al. 2018), so the delta grows rapidly. the scale of delta development, but also affects delta The sediment type of subaqueous AYRD is mainly clayey morphology (Nienhuis et  al. 2020; Rao et  al. 2020). The silt (Liu et al. 2010a) with finer sediment grains, and some removal of two dams on the Elwha River in the United researchers have also referred to it as the western muddy States between 2011 and 2014 caused the erosion of 30 zone of the SYS (Liu et  al. 2014). However, considering million tons sediment trapped in the reservoir, caus- its location and investigating its growth process, no distal ing the Elwha Delta to grow by 0.6 km over a five-year mud has developed in the AYRD. The main reason is that period (Ritchie et al. 2018). The AYRD grew by 7000 km this growth history lasted only for more than 700  years over 700 years (Zhang 1984), a growth rate almost a hun- before the supply of sediments was interrupted. dred times faster than that of the Elwha delta in compari- In general, before the 16th century, the abandoned Yel- son, which is clearly attributed to an adequate supply of low River carried large quantities of sediments that were sediment. The Krishna Delta on the east coast of India deposited rapidly on the outer side of the estuary, with has changed its morphology from a wave-dominated rapid vertical accretion and the fastest deposition rate cuspate delta to an outbuilding lobate delta over the last near the estuary (X02), basically at 2 cm/yr. As the estu- 500 years due to increased sediment flux to the sea (Rao ary was largely filled in the early stage, the later stage was et  al. 2020). These cases illustrate that when sediment Xue et al. Anthropocene Coasts (2023) 6:8 Page 12 of 14 supply is large enough, it can mask the shaping effects 5 Conclusions of tide and wave dynamics on the geomorphology of the 1. The dating framework shows that all three cores in delta to some extent. the AYRD record sedimentary sequences for one thou- Adequate sediment supply is required for the growth sand years. The time of land-formation from land to sea stage as well as for the geomorphic maintenance of the direction (X02, X03 and X04) is sequentially delayed of delta. Under the background of the decrease of sediment AD1573 (± 134), AD1784 (± 94) and AD1856 (± 128), flux into the sea, it is a major trend for the evolution of respectively. delta to transform from river dominated delta to tide 2. The AYRD is dominated by fine-grained sediments, dominated delta and wave dominated delta (Nienhuis with silt, mud, and sandy silt as its main sediment types. et  al. 2020). Even the Magra Delta, a small river domi- After the Yellow River joined the Huaihe River in AD1128, nated delta along the Mediterranean coast, is gradually the grain size components in the sediment were signifi - assuming a typical estuarine morphology due to sedi- cantly transformed, which showed that the sand compo- ment depletion (Pratellesi et al. 2018). The role of marine nent began to decrease at first. In the middle and late 14th forces such as tide and wave on the evolution of deltaic century, the proportion of clay component in the sedi- landforms began to come to the fore when the river- ments increased and remained high. In the middle of the borne sediments decreased. The marine forces changed 16th century, due to the further increase in sediment flux the geomorphology of the delta by adjusting the redistri- from the abandoned Yellow River into the sea, the clay bution of incoming sediments. After AD1855, the mouth content in the sediments increased sharply in the follow- of AYRD eroded and retreated (Liu et al. 2010b), and the ing 100 years. During the final stage of the transition from shoreline gradually flattened due to the return of the Yel - subaqueous delta to terrestrial delta, a slight increase in low River to the north and the cut-off of sediment supply. the proportion of sand component is a distinctive feature The slope of the underwater topography affects the in the sedimentary record, with this change lasting from amount of sediment deposited in the estuary. During the 10 to 90 years in different core records. period of Yellow River southward shift, about 260 ~ 960 3. The dominant factors affecting the evolution of the million tons of sediment entered the sea each year (Ren AYRD are the sediment flux into the sea and initial sub - 2006; Chen et  al. 2018). The large amount of sediment merged topography. After the interruption of sediment brought by the abandoned Yellow River continued to supply due to the northern return of the Yellow River in accumulate in the estuary and the sediment center con- AD1855, hydrodynamic erosion by wave and tidal forces tinued to extend seaward (Fig. 8), eventually forming the from the outer delta began to dominate. Before the 16th AYRD. In contrast, the Ayeyarwady River estuary, where century, the sediments were deposited mainly in the up- the modern Ayeyarwady River delivers about 360 million estuary and nearshore, with rapid vertical accretion. The tons of sediment to the sea each year (Liu et  al. 2013), deposition rate of the up-estuary (X02) was the fastest, has a large sediment flux to the sea, which is of the same basically greater than 2 cm/yr, and the deposition rate of order of magnitude as the sediment flux to the sea from the outer side (X04) was slower, at 1.2 ~ 1.4  cm/yr. After the abandoned Yellow River. However, the results show the 16th century, the horizontal land formation was the that there is almost no modern sediment accumulation main focus, and the seaward extension rate increased on the continental shelf near the Ayeyarwady River estu- rapidly, reaching 1.5  km/yr at the fastest. The develop - ary, and huge amounts of muddy sediments are deposited ment process of the AYRD reflects the following law: in wedges in the Martaban Gulf (Kuehl et al. 2019), with when the sediment flux of river into the sea is certain, the a thickness of 60  m, extending seaward to about 130  m land formation rate is inversely proportional to the verti- water depth (Liu et al. 2020). The main reason is that the cal accretion rate, and the faster the horizontal land for- difference of two submerged slope outside estuaries is mation rate, the slower the vertical accretion rate. too large (Liu et al. 2013, 2020). The excessive submerged Acknowledgements slope is not conducive to the massive accumulation of Yaping Mei and Peipei Zhao are thanked for their assistance in the core acqui- sediments, thus making it difficult to form large deltas. sition and laboratory analyses. Fengyue Qiu, Xiaomei Nian and Liang Zhou are thanked for the guidance to the OSL experiment. Changes in sea level can affect the location of sediment accumulation, or the “tolerable space” for sediment accu- Authors’ contributions mulation (Wright et  al. 1971), thus affecting the growth Chengfeng Xue, Jianjun Jia and Yang Yang developed the idea and elaborated the concept. Chengfeng Xue and Jianhua Gao designed and conducted the and evolution of deltas. The formation of the AYRD is an field survey. Chengfeng Xue, Xibin Han, Chaoran Xu, and Mengyao Wang exceptional event in the last millennium, during which provided experimental or numerical data and organized and conducted the the sea level is basically stable (Wang et  al. 2014), so its data analyses. Chengfeng Xue wrote the manuscript. All authors contributed to the revision of the manuscript. The authors read and approved the final growth and evolution can basically exclude the influence manuscript. of sea level change. X ue et al. Anthropocene Coasts (2023) 6:8 Page 13 of 14 Funding Li CX, Zhang JQ, Fan DD, Deng B (2001) Holocene regression and the tidal Financial support for the study was provided by the National Natural Science radial sand ridge system formation in the Jiangsu coastal zone, east Foundation of China (Nos. 41876092 and 42006151), the Open Research Fund China[J ]. Mar Geol 173:97–120 of Key Laboratory of Coastal Salt Marsh Ecosystems and Resources, Ministry of Lin W, Sun Y, Nijhuis S, Wang Z (2020) Scenario-based flood risk assessment for Natural Resources (No. KLCSMERMNR2021001). urbanizing deltas using future land-use simulation (FLUS): Guangzhou Metropolitan Area as a case study[J ]. Sci Total Environ 2019(739):139899 Availability of data and materials Liu J, Saito Y, Kong X, Wang H, Wen C, Yang Z, Nakashima R (2010a) Delta The first author, Dr. Chengfeng Xue (Chengfeng_xue92@163.com) can be development and channel incision during marine isotope stages 3 and 2 contacted for access to the data. in the western South Yellow Sea[J ]. Mar Geol 278(1–4):54–76 Liu J, Saito Y, Kong X, Wang H, Xiang L, Wen C, Nakashima R (2010b) Sedimen- tary record of environmental evolution off the Yangtze River estuary, Declarations East China Sea, during the last 13,000 years, with special reference to the influence of the Yellow River on the Yangtze River delta during the last Competing interests 600 years[J ]. Quatern Sci Rev 29(17–18):2424–2438 The authors declare no competing interests. Liu J, Kong X, Saito Y, Liu JP, Yang Z, Wen C (2013) Subaqueous deltaic forma- tion of the Old Yellow River (AD 1128–1855) on the western south yellow Author details sea[J ]. Mar Geol 344:19–33 State Key Laboratory of Estuarine and Coastal Research, School of Marine Liu Y, Gao S, Wang YP, Yang Y, Long J, Zhang Y, Wu X (2014) Distal mud deposits Sciences, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200241, China. 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Sedimentary records reveal two stages of evolution of the Abandoned Yellow River Delta from AD1128 to AD1855: vertical accretion and land-forming

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Springer Journals
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Copyright © The Author(s) 2023
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2561-4150
DOI
10.1007/s44218-023-00023-9
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Abstract

In AD1128, the Yellow River shifted its course from the Bohai Sea to the South Yellow Sea (SYS) due to anthropo- genic dike excavation, starting the development of the Abandoned Yellow River Delta (AYRD) that lasted for more than 700 years (AD1128-1855). However, the sediment flux of the abandoned Yellow River into the sea is in a state of change due to human activities, and the growth process of the AYRD is not well understood. Here, we investigate the growth process of the AYRD and its sedimentary record characteristics over the last millennium based on three cores collected from the AYRD. The results show that the main sediment types in the AYRD are silt, mud and sandy silt. After AD1128, the grain size components in the sediments of the AYRD showed significant stage changes with the sand content first starting to decrease. The clay content increased and remained at a high percentage in the middle to late 14th century, followed by a sharp increase from the mid-16th to the mid-17th century, due to a further increase in sediment flux from the abandoned Yellow River into the sea. A slight increase in the proportion of sand content during the final stage of the transition from subaqueous delta to terrestrial delta is a distinctive feature of the sedimentary record, and this change persists for 10 ~ 90 years in different core records. This study further proposes a schematic model of the development of the AYRD: (a) before the 16th century, the sedi- ments were deposited mainly in the estuary and nearshore, with rapid vertical accretion; (b) After the 16th century, the horizontal land formation was the main focus, and the rate of seaward extension increased rapidly. This model also reflects the following pattern: when the sediment flux from the river into the sea is certain, the rate of land for - mation is inversely proportional to the rate of vertical accretion. The dominant factors affecting the evolution of the AYRD are the sediment flux into the sea and initial submerged topography, with less influence from sea level changes. Hydrodynamic erosion by wave and tidal forces from the outer delta began to dominate after the interruption of sedi- ment supply due to the Yellow River mouth northward to the Bohai Sea in AD1855. This study has important implica- tions for understanding the growth and evolution of deltas under the influence of human activities. Keywords Abandoned Yellow River Delta, Growth processes, Human activities, Sediment flux *Correspondence: Jianjun Jia jjjia@sklec.ecnu.edu.cn Full list of author information is available at the end of the article © The Author(s) 2023. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http:// creat iveco mmons. org/ licen ses/ by/4. 0/. Xue et al. Anthropocene Coasts (2023) 6:8 Page 2 of 14 whereas there was a large sediment flux reaching the sea 1 Introduction after the Yellow River joining the Huaihe River. It is esti- Deltas rank among the most economically and ecologi- mated that during the first 300 years of the Yellow River cally valuable environments on Earth (Nienhuis et  al. southward shift (AD1194 ~ AD1495), annual sediment 2020). With increasing anthropogenic influence, many load of the abandoned Yellow River channel was about of large deltas face severe pressure from urbanization, 0.6 ~ 1.0 billion tons per year (Zhang 1998; Ren 2006) of land-use changes, socio-economic transformation, cli- which about 40% ~ 57.6% (Chen et al. 2018) accumulated mate change, and episodic natural hazards (Giosan et al. on the river channel and the alluvial plain, and the rest of 2014; Musa et al. 2014; Lin et al. 2020). At present, sedi- the sediment sank into the sea. During the next 360 years ment fluxes in many of the world’s large rivers have been (AD1495 ~ AD1855), the annual sediment load of the drastically reduced (Syvitski et  al. 2009), which is affect - abandoned Yellow River channel increased to about ing delta morphology and may lead to erosion (Syvitski 1.0 ~ 1.6 billion tons per year due to the embankment of et  al. 2009; Tessler et  al. 2015). Deltas are increasingly the north bank of the river and the closure of the chan- vulnerable to coastal hazards with expected accelerated nel on the north side of the river (Zhang 1998; Ren 2006), sea-level rise (Nerem et  al. 2018). A better understand- correspondingly enhancing the sediment flux into the ing of how deltas grow can help address these threats and SYS. The sediment flux of the abandoned Yellow River challenges. here for more than 700  years has been influenced by a The Yellow River is the most sediment-laden river in combination of natural and anthropogenic factors, thus the world, with an average suspended sediment concen- also influencing the growth process of the delta. tration of 35 ~ 40  kg/m (Ren 2006; Milliman and Farns- Due to the exploitation of oil–gas resources or the worth 2011). The lower reaches of the Yellow River have overall development program in the Yellow River Delta, become a suspended river on the ground due to the silta- the study of the Yellow River Delta located in Bohai Bay tion, with an elevation even be more than 10 m in some has made great progress. Many scholars have conducted sections of the river (Xie 1999; Yu 2002). The river with thorough studies on the evolution of the Yellow River high suspended sediment concentration breaks through Delta, sedimentation patterns, depositional environ- the embankment, causing the lower reaches and estuar- ments, and the geological aspects of delta erosion and ies to swing and shift frequently. In the past 2600  years, disasters (Bornhold et  al. 1986; Xue et  al. 1995; Saito there have been 26 major shifts in the lower 600 km long et  al. 2000; Liu et  al. 2014, 2019; Wu et  al. 2015; Zhang section of the Yellow River (Wang and Liu 2019). Two of et  al. 2018). In contrast, the sedimentary evolution of the larger shifts of the Yellow River in the last 1000 years the AYRD remains more questionable due to fewer long- occurred in AD1128 and AD1855, respectively. The for - length cores and lack of precise chronological framework mer was caused by anthropogenic dike excavation, from in the terrestrial part of the AYRD. What are the char- flowing north into the Bohai Sea to joining the Huaihe acteristics of the growth-evolution process of this delta? River and eventually fully merging into the SYS, whereas And what are the main factors influencing the growth the latter was a natural shift, with the Yellow River of delta in different stages. The choice of the AYRD, a returning to its former course and re-entering the Bohai representative delta of growth, is conducive to further Sea. understanding of delta growth processes by exploring the The massive accumulation of sediments brought by evolution of the delta in time and space. the southward shift of the Yellow River over 700  years formed the AYRD at the former Huaihe River mouth. The 2 Materials and methods delta cannot grow without sediment supply. For a long 2.1 Study area time, the sediment flux to the sea of the Yellow River has During more than 700  years from 1128 to 1855 AD, the been influenced by both human activities and climate mouth of the Yellow River shifted southward to the SYS, change. The sediment flux reaching the sea after the sev - forming the AYRD along the Jiangsu coast. The terres - enth century AD was basically increasing, reaching its trial AYRD is located in the north Jiangsu Provence, and peak around AD1855 (Wu et  al. 2020), which provided its apex is located in Yuntiguan site, covering an area of abundant sediment supply for the growth of the AYRD. about 7000 km (Zhang 1984). The SYS is mainly influ - In addition, during its growth, annual sediment load of enced by the semidiurnal tides, with a tidal range of the abandoned Yellow River had been altered accord- about 1 ~ 4  m on average (Liu et  al. 2013). The western ingly by a series of anthropogenic activities such as levee SYS is dominated by a convergent-divergent tidal current breaches, embankments, and river management in the field centered on the Jianggang in the southern part of basin. The sediment flux of original Huaihe River into the study area (Li et al. 2001). sea was 100 ~ 200 million tons per year (Zhang 1998), X ue et al. Anthropocene Coasts (2023) 6:8 Page 3 of 14 Fig. 1 Location of study area and cores distribution The study area and the distribution of sampling sta - Table 1 Statistics of cores information in the study area tions are shown in Fig.  1. In order to study the devel- Core No. Longitude (E) Latitude (N) Length (m) Time opment and evolution history of the AYRD, two cores X02 15.20 2019/6/14 (X02 and X03) were collected on the left and right 119°51′20.93″ 33°56′40.10″ sides of the mouth of the original Huaihe River (out- X03 119°47′47.70″ 34°14′56.32″ 15.20 2019/6/15 side of Yuntiguan site, which is the apex of the terres- X04 20.60 2019/6/16 120°16′25.72″ 34°17′29.05″ trial AYRD), and one core (X04) was collected on the front edge of the terrestrial AYRD. Borehole cores were obtained by the rotary drilling rig method in 2019, 30% hydrogen peroxide (H O ) and 10% hydrochloric 2 2 and their recovery rate was basically above 95%. The acid (HCl) in order to remove organic matter and car- segmented cores are extended proportionally to the bonates, respectively. After treatment with H O and 2 2 planned collection length to eliminate the effects of HCl, the raw sediment samples were then rinsed and wet- compression. The information about the cores is shown sieved to retain the grain-size fractions of 45 ~ 63  μm. in Table 1. The grains were then etched using 30% H SiF for 2 6 3 ~ 4 days and 40% HF for 40 min, respectively, and then 2.2 OSL da ting and the development of dating framework washed with HCl and water to isolate the quartz grains. Eighteen samples were collected from three cores for The purity of the isolated quartz was checked by infra - Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) dating. All red stimulated luminescence measurements to ensure no OSL sample preparations and measurements were per- feldspar contamination was present in any of the samples formed under dim red light in order to avoid optical (Duller 2003). bleaching effects. After removing the outer layers of the All luminescence measurements, beta irradiation and samples, the inner cores of the samples were treated with preheat treatments were carried out using an automated Xue et al. Anthropocene Coasts (2023) 6:8 Page 4 of 14 Risø-TL/OSL DA-20 DASH reader equipped with a cali- used to calculate the sample statistics of the grain size brated beta (90Sr/90Y) source with an EMI 9235 QA distribution, that is, mean grain size (Mz). The sand- photomultiplier tube (PMT). Neutron activation analy- silt–clay triangle diagram proposed by Folk et al. (1970) sis (NAA) was used to determine the uranium, thorium was used to classify the sediments. and potassium contents of these samples. The water con - tents (weight of water/weight of dry sediment) of these 3 Results samples were measured in the laboratory. The dose rates 3.1 Lithostratigraphic characteristics (DR) and final ages were calculated using the Dose Rate Core X02, 1520  cm long, mainly appears grey-brown, and Age Calculator (’DRAC0) (Durcan et al. 2015). dark grey, brown-grey and green-grey. The composi - The single-aliquot regenerative-dose (SAR) proto - tion is highly variable, with mainly clay, clayed silt and col (Murray and Wintle 2000) was applied to aliquots silty sand. It can be roughly divided into four sections of grains that were 2  mm in diameter in order to deter- according to lithology (Fig. 2). mine the equivalent dose (De) of the samples. The growth 0 ~ 400 cm: grey-brown, clayey silt with high water con- curves were fitted using single saturating exponential tent, soft, strongly cohesive and plastic. There are black functions. All OSL ages are reported relative to AD2019. carbonaceous spots at 110 ~ 112  cm and 113 ~ 117  cm, The experiments were performed at the State Key Labo - and scattered shell fragments at 110 ~ 111 cm. ratory of Estuarine and Coastal Research, East China 400 ~ 850  cm: greyish brown, silty sand with low Normal University, Shanghai. water content, dense, non-cohesive, non-plastic. T = , where T is the sediment burial time, and De is 850 ~ 1350  cm: mainly brownish grey and dark grey, DR the equivalent dose, and DR is the annual dose rate. clayey silt with medium water content, soft, weakly The Bacon model is a stepwise autoregressive gamma cohesive, plastic. The 1320 ~ 1330  cm section is inter- procedure based on the Bpeat model concept by Blaauw spersed with many scattered shell fragments, ranging and Christen (2005, 2011). An optimal age-depth curve is from 1 to 5 mm in diameter. finally obtained with 95% confidence interval. The Bacon 1350 ~ 1520 cm: greenish grey, stiff clay layer with a lot procedure uses Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) of concretions, ranging from 0.5 to 8 cm in diameter and for iterative operations, which can greatly reduce the with brownish yellow rust spots; very low water content, age error range with higher reasonableness and accuracy slightly consolidated, strongly cohesive but not plastic. (Blaauw and Christen 2005). Core X03, 1520  cm long, is mainly brown and brownish-grey, silty to clayey silt. It can be divided 2.3 G rain size analysis into two sections according to lithology. Grain size analysis of 2 cm sub-samples was conducted 0 ~ 245  cm: mainly brownish-grey and greyish- using the Mastersizer-2000 laser particle analyzer, brown, clayey silty sand with low water content, soft, which has a measurement range of 0.02 ~ 2000 µm with strongly cohesive and plastic. There are bioturbation a relative error of < 3% for repeated measurements. phenomena at 142 ~ 145 cm and 207 ~ 215 cm. The experiment was completed at the Key Laboratory 245 ~ 1520  cm: mainly brownish-grey and grey silt of Coast and Island Development, Nanjing University, with medium–high water content, soft, strongly cohe- Nanjing. The matrix formula of McManus (1988) was sive and plastic. There is bioturbation at 420 ~ 440  cm Fig. 2 Geologic column of cores X02(a), X03(b), and X04(c) X ue et al. Anthropocene Coasts (2023) 6:8 Page 5 of 14 and scattered shell fragments at 443 cm. It is intercalated (Liu et  al. 2010a) separating it from the overlying unit. with grey-black, high water thin (5 ~ 20  mm thick) sand In order for the Bacon model to run better and thus bandings or lenses at 1380 ~ 1420 cm. obtain an accurate dating framework for the last millen- Core X04, 2060 cm long, shows mainly brownish and nium, only four samples above 13 m depth were selected brownish-grey silt and sand, with black carbonaceous for the core X02 for dating simulations. The Bacon run - spots or bandings at 120 ~ 400  cm. It can be roughly ning result contains the 95% confidence ranges, median divided into two sections according to lithology. and mean ages for each depth, and red curve shows sin- 0 ~ 960 cm: brownish and brownish-grey silt with low gle "best" model based on the mean age for each depth water content, soft, weakly cohesive and plastic. Black (Fig.  3). So, we choose the mean age as the value for the carbonaceous spots or bandings occur in many lay- dating framework and use it to calculate the deposition ers , such as 125 ~ 128  cm, 177 ~ 178  cm, 188 ~ 193  cm, rates. It was found that the sediment age above 13  m in 197 ~ 198  cm, 201 ~ 205  cm, 391 ~ 392  cm and X02 ranged from AD941 (± 125) to AD1573 (± 134), and 865 ~ 866 cm. Clayed silt or clay bandings occur in many after AD1573 (± 134), it almost stopped receiving sedi- layers, for example, in 683 ~ 691 cm and 943 ~ 944 cm. ment supply. 960 ~ 2060  cm: brownish-grey sand with high water Similarly, the dating framework was established for content, dense, almost non-cohesive and non-plastic. core X03 and core X04. The chronological depositional sequence for core X03 ranges from AD983 (± 108) to 3.2 Da ting framework and deposition rate AD1784 (± 94); the chronological depositional sequence Six samples of core X02 at 2.55  m, 6.70  m, 10.55  m, for core X04 ranges from AD114 (± 289) to AD1856 12.70 m, 13.48 m, and 15.00 m were selected, respectively. (± 128). The ages of the samples were 0.56 ± 0.07 kyr, 0.80 ± 0.11 Based on the established dating framework, relatively kyr, 0.80 ± 0.05 kyr, 1.09 ± 0.13 kyr, 19.64 ± 0.07 kyr, unique layers were selected in each core to analyze dep- 33.80 ± 4.40 kyr (Table  2), with no age inversions. How- osition rate variations in these sections (Table  3). It was ever, the dating results of X02 show that the upper and found that deposition rates in core X02 ranged from 2.0 lower sections are distinct at 13  m depth: the ages of to 2.3  cm/yr, in X03 from 1.7 to 2.0  cm/yr, and in X04 upper section were over the past 1000  years; the ages of from 1.0 to 1.4  cm/yr (Fig.  4). The overall performance lower section were during the 34 ~ 20 kyr period, indi- is an increase in deposition rate after the Yellow River cating that the deposition rate of cores in this section southward shift, with a larger rate in the early stages and is extremely low with a 15  cm-thick erosional bed here a slightly lower rate in the later stages. Table 2 Optically stimulated luminescence dating results of cores X02, X03, and X04 Core Sample Depth (m) U (ppm) Th (ppm) K (%) Rb (ppm) Water (%) Dose Rate (Gy/kyr) De (Gy) Age (kyr) No. No. (relative to AD2019) X02 X02-4 2.55 2.28 13.40 2.01 115.0 36 2.83 ± 0.12 1.57 ± 0.18 0.56 ± 0.07 X02-8 6.70 1.90 9.34 1.74 77.2 27 2.43 ± 0.11 1.94 ± 0.25 0.80 ± 0.11 X02-12 10.55 2.23 12.00 2.14 116.0 39 2.67 ± 0.11 2.15 ± 0.09 0.80 ± 0.05 X02-14 12.70 2.28 13.90 2.30 126.0 44 2.79 ± 0.12 3.03 ± 0.34 1.09 ± 0.13 X02-15 13.48 2.05 10.70 1.82 103.0 29 2.76 ± 0.12 54.10 ± 1.45 19.64 ± 0.07 X02-16 15.00 2.63 16.70 2.52 132.0 25 3.67 ± 0.16 123.80 ± 15.10 33.80 ± 4.40 X03 X03-2 1.03 2.42 14.50 2.33 128.0 22 3.57 ± 0.16 0.58 ± 0.16 0.16 ± 0.04 X03-5 4.00 2.21 13.20 2.17 117.0 49 2.61 ± 0.10 1.22 ± 0.11 0.47 ± 0.05 X03-10 8.45 2.53 15.40 2.34 131.0 48 2.86 ± 0.11 1.77 ± 0.16 0.62 ± 0.06 X03-11 9.97 2.33 13.60 2.18 120.0 41 2.77 ± 0.11 1.90 ± 0.13 0.69 ± 0.05 X03-16 14.98 2.30 11.70 1.96 101.0 28 2.78 ± 0.12 2.82 ± 0.31 1.02 ± 0.12 X04 X04-2 0.65 2.30 11.60 2.05 104.0 28 2.99 ± 0.13 0.75 ± 0.10 0.25 ± 0.04 X04-6 3.95 2.41 12.60 2.14 111.0 28 3.06 ± 0.13 1.36 ± 0.20 0.45 ± 0.07 X04-9 7.05 2.13 10.40 1.88 88.0 27 2.66 ± 0.11 1.55 ± 0.25 0.58 ± 0.10 X04-13 11.21 2.14 9.38 1.84 89.0 26 2.57 ± 0.11 1.20 ± 0.22 0.47 ± 0.09 X04-16 14.00 2.14 9.38 1.84 89.0 26 2.65 ± 0.12 1.59 ± 0.25 0.60 ± 0.10 X04-19 16.95 2.43 11.40 1.70 73.8 25 2.48 ± 0.11 2.35 ± 0.34 0.95 ± 0.14 X04-21 19.30 2.13 10.10 1.69 74.2 25 2.41 ± 0.09 6.07 ± 0.98 2.52 ± 0.42 Xue et al. Anthropocene Coasts (2023) 6:8 Page 6 of 14 Fig. 3 Dating framework of core X02, X03, and X04. The grey dotted line indicates the 95% confidence interval; red curve shows the single “best” model based on the mean age at each depth 3.3 G rain size characteristics of sediments sharp increase in sand content perhaps due to the scour- In conjunction with the dating framework established in ing of riverbed sand. There were two increases in clay the previous section, changes in the grain size fraction of content in cores X02 and X03, in AD1376, AD1513 and the sediments are observed over time. The results show AD1362, AD1637, respectively, whereas an increase in a significant shift in the sediment sequence of the AYRD clay content occurred for X04 in AD1362. The first time due to the fine-grained sediments of the abandoned Yel - of clay content increase is close in three cores which low River source. After AD1128, the grain size of the sed- indicate the AYRD entered a period of rapid develop- iments becomes finer: the mean grain size distribution of ment. The second clay content increase only occurred X02 ranges from 5.7φ to 6.8φ, with a mean value of 6.6φ; in core X02 and X03 with time difference which may the mean grain size distribution of X03 ranges from 5.7φ related to the increase of sediment flux. Although there to 8.1φ, with a mean value of 6.9φ; the mean grain size are some minor differences, the three cores share com - distribution of X04 distribution ranges from 5.9φ to 6.6φ, mon features with changes in three steps: (i) a sudden with a mean value of 6.3φ (Fig. 5). decrease in sand content just after the Yellow River In addition, the grain size fraction of the sediments joined the Huaihe River; (ii) a sudden increase in clay changes in stages, with a general decrease in the sand content in the sediments in the mid-late 14th and mid- fraction and an increase in the clay fraction, particularly 16th to mid-17th centuries; and (iii) a slight increase in in core X03 and X04. The depositional sequence of core the proportion of sand in the sediments during the final X02 is somewhat unique in that it experienced a brief stage of deltaic land-forming which continued for about decrease in sand content after AD1135, followed by a 10 ~ 90 years. X ue et al. Anthropocene Coasts (2023) 6:8 Page 7 of 14 Table 3 The ages in unique layers and the deposition rates of cores X02, X03, and X04 Core No. Depth (cm) Ages (AD) deposition rates (cm/ Min Max Median Mean yr) X02 0 1447 1714 1571 1573 2.00 156 1376 1624 1493 1495 2.03 398 1259 1495 1376 1376 2.10 780 1072 1306 1196 1194 2.22 840 1045 1277 1169 1167 2.16 909 1013 1244 1138 1135 2.29 925 1007 1236 1131 1128 2.00 1300 808 1058 944 941 —— X03 0 1687 1875 1785 1784 1.94 120 1630 1804 1724 1722 1.72 266 1552 1719 1637 1637 1.71 367 1500 1658 1578 1578 1.90 525 1417 1573 1495 1495 1.97 787 1286 1435 1362 1362 1.96 971 1192 1343 1268 1268 1.93 1114 1107 1275 1194 1194 1.91 1240 1031 1218 1128 1128 1.90 1259 1021 1209 1119 1118 1.93 1520 872 1088 983 983 —— X04 0 1740 1996 1850 1856 1.24 318 1485 1733 1597 1600 1.32 347 1462 1709 1575 1578 1.36 460 1373 1628 1493 1495 1.38 500 1342 1599 1465 1466 1.38 644 1225 1503 1361 1362 1.35 870 1029 1353 1195 1194 1.33 930 978 1313 1149 1149 1.29 957 954 1295 1129 1128 1.24 1342 593 1024 820 818 1.02 1976 -86 469 199 198 1.00 2060 -181 396 115 114 —— The deposition rate in the table is corresponding to the distance between the depth of the cell below and the cell in this row, i.e., 2.00 cm/yr in the first row of core X02 is the average deposition rate in the depth of 0 ~ 156 cm Although the timing of the sedimentary record dif- growth stage I, II and III, with a corresponding change in fers slightly from the event of the southward shift of sediment type. After the Yellow River southward shift, the Yellow River (AD1128 ~ AD1855), the sedimentary there was a basic change from two types of silty sand and sequences of three cores essentially show sedimentary sandy silt to two types of silt and mud (Fig.  6). The sedi - changes during the growth of the AYRD, beginning as ment types in the AYRD are mainly silt, mud and, sandy early as AD1135 (X02) and ending as late as AD1856 silt. (X04).The timing of the sedimentary record is basi - cally slightly delayed with the outward extension of the 4 Discussion estuarine location, and also basically reveals the seaward 4.1 Growth process of the Abandoned Yellow River Delta extension of the AYRD. A study of the coastline along the Jiangsu-Shanghai The grain size fraction changes significantly over time, area in the last millennium revealed that X02, X03 and and the sediment sequence can be divided into four X04 have undergone a sea-to-land transition in that stages, before the shift of Yellow River (pre- stage), Delta order (Fig.  7). Based on the precise dating framework Xue et al. Anthropocene Coasts (2023) 6:8 Page 8 of 14 Fig. 4 Variation of vertical deposit rate in the Abandoned Yellow River Delta. The vertical dotted lines mark the years AD1128 and AD1855, and the shaded areas represent the period when the clay content began to increase Fig. 5 Stages change of sediments grain size from the Abandoned Yellow River Delta. a Core X02; b Core X03; c Core X04. The dots (connected by red dashed lines) indicate the year when the sand fraction began to decrease at the beginning of the Yellow River joining Huaihe River, i.e., AD1135 in core X02; the purple dashed lines indicate the AYRD entered a period of rapid development with an increase in the clay fraction, the first occurring in the middle to late 14th century and the second in the mid-16th to the mid-17th century, and that the second occurrence may be related to the increase of sediment flux; the pentagons (connected by blue dashed lines) indicate the final land-forming stage of the AYRD with an increase in the sand fraction. Below the red dashed line is the pre- stage, between the red dashed line and the purple dashed line (the below one) is the growth stage I, between the purple dashed line (the below one) and the blue dashed line is the growth stage II, and above the blue dashed line is the growth stage III established in this study, it can be found that the ages of From AD1128 to AD1855, large amounts of sediment the tops of cores X02, X03, and X04 are AD1573 (± 134), accumulated at the estuary of the abandoned Yellow AD1784 (± 94) and AD1856 (± 128) in that order, which River to form the AYRD. The development process of also implies a sequential postponement of the time of delta is the transition from sea to land, which is mainly land formation. The timing of land formation in each the deposition of sediments outside the estuary, with the core coincides with the shoreline migration in the AYRD, water depth becoming increasingly shallow and eventu- which laterally confirms the reliability of the dating ally transformed to land. The sea-to-land transition is a framework. process of sediment filling the negative topography in the X ue et al. Anthropocene Coasts (2023) 6:8 Page 9 of 14 Fig. 6 Changes in sediment type of Abandoned Yellow River Delta in recent 1000 years. a X02; b X03; c X04 Fig. 7 Relationship between the shoreline changes of Jiangsu and Shanghai in the past thousand years (according to Tan 1982) and the location of the cores used in this study. The land-formation times of cores X02, X03 and X04 are AD1573 (± 134), AD1784 (± 94) and AD1856 (± 128) in that order, which coincide with the shoreline change process of the AYRD, laterally confirming the reliability of the dating framework vertical direction. According to the depth-age framework deposition rate increases continuously, from 1.29  cm/yr established by each core, the deposition rate of cores in to 1.38  cm/yr, but decreases slightly after AD1495. The each period was analyzed (Fig. 4). It was found that X02, deposition rate varies at different locations from the estu - which is in up-estuary, has the largest deposition rate, ary to the sea. In general, the deposition rate decreases almost always above 2 cm/yr, with the fastest deposition seaward, mainly as a result of the land-derived detritus rate of up to 2.29  cm/yr between AD1128 and AD1135. brought by the river filling up-estuary first (Wang et  al. The deposition rate of X03 is basically between 1.71 and 2013). 1.97  cm/yr, and the deposition rate is basically greater During the growth of the AYRD, the sediment flux than 1.96 cm/yr between AD1268 and AD1495. The dep - into the sea is constantly changing, so the growth rate osition rate of X04 is relatively slow and variable, basically of the AYRD is also constantly changing. As far as the less than 1.4 cm/yr. Before AD1128, the deposition rate is research data are concerned, the Yellow River had two less than 1.24 cm/yr. Between AD1128 and AD1495, the major channels to the sea before the 16th century, one Xue et al. Anthropocene Coasts (2023) 6:8 Page 10 of 14 was along the original channel to the Bohai Sea, and one Table 4 Extension of the abandoned Yellow River estuary (From Ye 1986) joined the Huaihe River to the SYS, thus the sediment flux accounted for half of the total sediment of the Yel - Time (AD) Extended Distance to Duration Extension low River, and the annual sediment flux into the sea was distance Yuntiguan time (yr) rate (m/ (km) (km) yr) 260 ~ 600 million tons (Zhang 1998; Ren 2006; Xue et al. 2011; Chen et  al. 2018). Whereas after the 16th century, 1194 ~ 1578 15 15 384 33 due to the construction of dikes on the northern bank of 1579 ~ 1591 20 35 13 1540 the river, the northern channel was cut off and the situ - 1592 ~ 1700 13 48 109 119 ation of north–south flow into the sea ended, from then 1701 ~ 1747 15 63 47 320 on, all of  Yellow River sediments were remitted to the 1748 ~ 1776 6 69 29 190 Huaihe River basin, and the annual sediment flux into the 1777 ~ 1803 3 72 27 111 sea was 430 ~ 960 million tons (Zhang 1998; Ren 2006; 1804 ~ 1810 3.5 75 7 500 Xue et  al. 2011; Chen et  al. 2018). However, the rate of 1811 ~ 1855 14 89 45 300 vertical deposition during the delta growth is inconsist- ent with the sediment flux from the abandoned Yellow River into the sea. Table 5 Rate of land formation in the Abandoned Yellow River The rapidity of delta development is expressed hori - Delta (From Zhang 1984) zontally as the rate of seaward extension of the shore- Time (AD) Area of land Rate of land Rate of shoreline line. Between AD1194 and AD1578, the rate of seaward 2 2 formation (km )formation (km / extension(m/yr) extension was 33  m/yr, whereas between AD1579 and yr) AD1591, the extension rate increased to 1540  m/yr 1128 ~ 1500 1670 3.2 24 (Table 4), an increase of two orders of magnitude, mainly 1500 ~ 1660 1770 11.1 80 due to the increase in sediment flux to the sea during this 1660 ~ 1747 1360 15.6 100 period as a result of river regulation by Liu Daxia and Pan 1747 ~ 1855 2360 21.8 150 Jixun. Between AD1592 and AD1855, the rate of seaward extension of the AYRD slowed to around 205  m/yr, but was much higher than the rate of extension of 33  m/yr between AD1194 and AD1578, an increase of almost one management strategy of “restrain water and attack sand”, order of magnitude in comparison. and the sediment increased, runoff was enhanced. The The rate of horizontal land formation in the AYRD is estuary was largely filled, so that the sediments entering also consistent with the sediment flux from the aban - the sea spread out under the influence of strong run-off, doned Yellow River into the sea. The land-forming rate and the rate of seaward shoreline extension and land for- was 3.2 km /yr between AD1128 and AD1500, and it was mation increased. Therefore, the horizontal growth of almost 4 ~ 7 times higher between AD1500 and AD1855 the delta tends to be more influenced by sediment sup - (Table 5). ply, whereas the vertical deposition rate tends to be more From the perspective of sedimentary geology, there are influenced by the original topography of the estuary. obvious incised valleys in the estuarine area of the Yang- Fluvial deltas are defined as accumulations formed by tze River, with the estuary gradually filling up to form the seaward material of a particular river, and thus the the Yangtze Delta (Hori et  al. 2002). There are no large distal mud is considered to be an important component, incised valleys outside the abandoned Yellow River estu- and the distal mud depositional characteristics also reveal ary in northern Jiangsu, which has been a depressional the stages of river delta evolution (Liu et al. 2014; Jia et al. receiving basin since the Cenozoic (He 2006) and was a 2018). Typically, fluvial deltas evolve in the sequence of trumpet-shaped estuary until the Yellow River southward estuarine bay, estuarine delta, subaqueous delta, and dis- shift, with wider and deeper estuaries, up to 7 ~ 8  km at tal mud of the shelf. After the Holocene high sea level the widest section (Zhang 1984; Li 1991). Before AD1578, period, the estuarine bay was first filled, then the estua - the river channel was wide and the runoff was weak due rine and subaqueous deltas were deposited, after which to the river management strategy of “wide river and the sediments overflowed massively from the estuary and fixed dike” (Xu 2001), and the estuary was in an "unsatu- were transported to more distant sites by the alongshore rated" state for a long time, which provided a wide space of the shelf circulation, forming distal mud deposits (Liu for sediment accumulation. Therefore, sediments from et  al. 2014). The main body of the Yangtze Delta began the early  diversion period were deposited in the estuary to form around 6 kyr B.P. (Hori et  al. 2001; Gao 2007). area and mainly filled the estuary (Fig.  8). After AD1578, For the first 4,000  years, the sediments of Yangtze River the river channel became narrower due to the river were deposited within the large estuary to fill the estuary X ue et al. Anthropocene Coasts (2023) 6:8 Page 11 of 14 Fig. 8 Schematic model of the development of the Abandoned Yellow River Delta. It represents the accumulation process of sediment brought by the abandoned Yellow River, with the center of deposition continuously advancing offshore. Before the 16th century, there was less incoming sediment and the rate of shoreline extension seaward was slower, while the rate of proximal vertical accretion was faster, and the amount of sediment transported offshore was less. After the 16th century, there was relatively more incoming sediment, and the rate of shoreline extension seaward was faster, while the rate of vertical accretion became slower, and the amount of sediment transported offshore increased itself. For the next 2,000  years, sediments escaped from dominated by horizontal land-formation, with the fastest the estuary and spread out onto the open shelf, stretch- seaward extension rate up to 1.5 km/yr. Thus, the rate of ing more than 600 km southward to form the distal mud. land-formation is not only related to the sediment flux, The Yellow River delta near Tianjin began to form around but also related to the original submarine topography 2.34 ~ 5 kyr B.P. (Ren 2006), and the development of the outside the estuary (Yin 1986; Liu et al. 2020). The above distal mud about 500  km away from the estuary began results also basically confirm the theory that the rate almost simultaneously with the delta near the estu- of land formation is inversely proportional to the verti- ary due to lack huge estuarine bay. The place where the cal deposition rate when the flux of fluvial sediment is AYRD developed also did not have a huge estuarine bay, constant. and the sediment supply during its growth period once reached the highest sediment load in the history of the 4.2 Factors influencing the formation of the Abandoned Yellow River, about 0.6 ~ 1.6 billion tons per year (Ren Yellow River Delta 2006). Except for some sediments deposited in the allu- Sediment supply is the material basis for the evolution vial plain inside and outside the river bank, the annual of delta growth, and numerous cases of delta evolution sediment flux to the sea was about 260 ~ 960 million tons show that the magnitude of supply not only determines (Ren 2006; Chen et  al. 2018), so the delta grows rapidly. the scale of delta development, but also affects delta The sediment type of subaqueous AYRD is mainly clayey morphology (Nienhuis et  al. 2020; Rao et  al. 2020). The silt (Liu et al. 2010a) with finer sediment grains, and some removal of two dams on the Elwha River in the United researchers have also referred to it as the western muddy States between 2011 and 2014 caused the erosion of 30 zone of the SYS (Liu et  al. 2014). However, considering million tons sediment trapped in the reservoir, caus- its location and investigating its growth process, no distal ing the Elwha Delta to grow by 0.6 km over a five-year mud has developed in the AYRD. The main reason is that period (Ritchie et al. 2018). The AYRD grew by 7000 km this growth history lasted only for more than 700  years over 700 years (Zhang 1984), a growth rate almost a hun- before the supply of sediments was interrupted. dred times faster than that of the Elwha delta in compari- In general, before the 16th century, the abandoned Yel- son, which is clearly attributed to an adequate supply of low River carried large quantities of sediments that were sediment. The Krishna Delta on the east coast of India deposited rapidly on the outer side of the estuary, with has changed its morphology from a wave-dominated rapid vertical accretion and the fastest deposition rate cuspate delta to an outbuilding lobate delta over the last near the estuary (X02), basically at 2 cm/yr. As the estu- 500 years due to increased sediment flux to the sea (Rao ary was largely filled in the early stage, the later stage was et  al. 2020). These cases illustrate that when sediment Xue et al. Anthropocene Coasts (2023) 6:8 Page 12 of 14 supply is large enough, it can mask the shaping effects 5 Conclusions of tide and wave dynamics on the geomorphology of the 1. The dating framework shows that all three cores in delta to some extent. the AYRD record sedimentary sequences for one thou- Adequate sediment supply is required for the growth sand years. The time of land-formation from land to sea stage as well as for the geomorphic maintenance of the direction (X02, X03 and X04) is sequentially delayed of delta. Under the background of the decrease of sediment AD1573 (± 134), AD1784 (± 94) and AD1856 (± 128), flux into the sea, it is a major trend for the evolution of respectively. delta to transform from river dominated delta to tide 2. The AYRD is dominated by fine-grained sediments, dominated delta and wave dominated delta (Nienhuis with silt, mud, and sandy silt as its main sediment types. et  al. 2020). Even the Magra Delta, a small river domi- After the Yellow River joined the Huaihe River in AD1128, nated delta along the Mediterranean coast, is gradually the grain size components in the sediment were signifi - assuming a typical estuarine morphology due to sedi- cantly transformed, which showed that the sand compo- ment depletion (Pratellesi et al. 2018). The role of marine nent began to decrease at first. In the middle and late 14th forces such as tide and wave on the evolution of deltaic century, the proportion of clay component in the sedi- landforms began to come to the fore when the river- ments increased and remained high. In the middle of the borne sediments decreased. The marine forces changed 16th century, due to the further increase in sediment flux the geomorphology of the delta by adjusting the redistri- from the abandoned Yellow River into the sea, the clay bution of incoming sediments. After AD1855, the mouth content in the sediments increased sharply in the follow- of AYRD eroded and retreated (Liu et al. 2010b), and the ing 100 years. During the final stage of the transition from shoreline gradually flattened due to the return of the Yel - subaqueous delta to terrestrial delta, a slight increase in low River to the north and the cut-off of sediment supply. the proportion of sand component is a distinctive feature The slope of the underwater topography affects the in the sedimentary record, with this change lasting from amount of sediment deposited in the estuary. During the 10 to 90 years in different core records. period of Yellow River southward shift, about 260 ~ 960 3. The dominant factors affecting the evolution of the million tons of sediment entered the sea each year (Ren AYRD are the sediment flux into the sea and initial sub - 2006; Chen et  al. 2018). The large amount of sediment merged topography. After the interruption of sediment brought by the abandoned Yellow River continued to supply due to the northern return of the Yellow River in accumulate in the estuary and the sediment center con- AD1855, hydrodynamic erosion by wave and tidal forces tinued to extend seaward (Fig. 8), eventually forming the from the outer delta began to dominate. Before the 16th AYRD. In contrast, the Ayeyarwady River estuary, where century, the sediments were deposited mainly in the up- the modern Ayeyarwady River delivers about 360 million estuary and nearshore, with rapid vertical accretion. The tons of sediment to the sea each year (Liu et  al. 2013), deposition rate of the up-estuary (X02) was the fastest, has a large sediment flux to the sea, which is of the same basically greater than 2 cm/yr, and the deposition rate of order of magnitude as the sediment flux to the sea from the outer side (X04) was slower, at 1.2 ~ 1.4  cm/yr. After the abandoned Yellow River. However, the results show the 16th century, the horizontal land formation was the that there is almost no modern sediment accumulation main focus, and the seaward extension rate increased on the continental shelf near the Ayeyarwady River estu- rapidly, reaching 1.5  km/yr at the fastest. The develop - ary, and huge amounts of muddy sediments are deposited ment process of the AYRD reflects the following law: in wedges in the Martaban Gulf (Kuehl et al. 2019), with when the sediment flux of river into the sea is certain, the a thickness of 60  m, extending seaward to about 130  m land formation rate is inversely proportional to the verti- water depth (Liu et al. 2020). The main reason is that the cal accretion rate, and the faster the horizontal land for- difference of two submerged slope outside estuaries is mation rate, the slower the vertical accretion rate. too large (Liu et al. 2013, 2020). The excessive submerged Acknowledgements slope is not conducive to the massive accumulation of Yaping Mei and Peipei Zhao are thanked for their assistance in the core acqui- sediments, thus making it difficult to form large deltas. sition and laboratory analyses. Fengyue Qiu, Xiaomei Nian and Liang Zhou are thanked for the guidance to the OSL experiment. Changes in sea level can affect the location of sediment accumulation, or the “tolerable space” for sediment accu- Authors’ contributions mulation (Wright et  al. 1971), thus affecting the growth Chengfeng Xue, Jianjun Jia and Yang Yang developed the idea and elaborated the concept. Chengfeng Xue and Jianhua Gao designed and conducted the and evolution of deltas. The formation of the AYRD is an field survey. Chengfeng Xue, Xibin Han, Chaoran Xu, and Mengyao Wang exceptional event in the last millennium, during which provided experimental or numerical data and organized and conducted the the sea level is basically stable (Wang et  al. 2014), so its data analyses. Chengfeng Xue wrote the manuscript. All authors contributed to the revision of the manuscript. The authors read and approved the final growth and evolution can basically exclude the influence manuscript. of sea level change. X ue et al. Anthropocene Coasts (2023) 6:8 Page 13 of 14 Funding Li CX, Zhang JQ, Fan DD, Deng B (2001) Holocene regression and the tidal Financial support for the study was provided by the National Natural Science radial sand ridge system formation in the Jiangsu coastal zone, east Foundation of China (Nos. 41876092 and 42006151), the Open Research Fund China[J ]. Mar Geol 173:97–120 of Key Laboratory of Coastal Salt Marsh Ecosystems and Resources, Ministry of Lin W, Sun Y, Nijhuis S, Wang Z (2020) Scenario-based flood risk assessment for Natural Resources (No. KLCSMERMNR2021001). urbanizing deltas using future land-use simulation (FLUS): Guangzhou Metropolitan Area as a case study[J ]. Sci Total Environ 2019(739):139899 Availability of data and materials Liu J, Saito Y, Kong X, Wang H, Wen C, Yang Z, Nakashima R (2010a) Delta The first author, Dr. Chengfeng Xue (Chengfeng_xue92@163.com) can be development and channel incision during marine isotope stages 3 and 2 contacted for access to the data. in the western South Yellow Sea[J ]. 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Journal

Anthropocene CoastsSpringer Journals

Published: May 22, 2023

Keywords: Abandoned Yellow River Delta; Growth processes; Human activities; Sediment flux

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