Flood Defense and Water/Sediment Management—With Particular Reference to The Yellow River - River Dynamics and Integrated River Management - page 365

T able 6.7 Shift of the river course and the 11 river channels

Used time *
(years)

Length **
(km)

Ye a r
(AD)

No. Diversion point Name of the channel

0 1855 49 Tong-wa-xiang

0 1881 71

32.5 *** 0 1889.4 75

1 1889.4 61 Xie-jia-yuan

1 1897.6 5.10 71

2 1897.6 59 Ling-zi-zhuang

2 1904.7 5.9 65

3 1904.7 57 Yan-wo

3 1917.8 11 63

4 1917.8 57 Tai-ping-ling

4 1926.7 6.11 67

5 1926.7 Ba-li-zhuang

5 1929.9 2.11 65

6 1929.9 73 Ji-jia-zhuang

Channel changed many
times

6 1934.1 3.4 65

7 1934.1 Yi-Hao-Ba
7 1950 75 Tian-shui-gou
7 1953.7 9.6 85 Tian-shui-gou
8 1953.7 75 Shen-xian-gou
8 1964.1 10.6 102 Shen-xian-gou
9 1964.1 70 Luo-jia-wu-zi Diao-kou-he
9 1976.5 12.4 103 Diao-kou-he
10 1976.5 66 Xi-he-kou Qing-shui-gou
10 1987 106 Qing-shui-gou
10 1996.7 20.2 112 Qing-shui-gou
11 1996.7 94 Cha-he Qingshuigou-Chahe
11 1997.12 1.5 102 Qingshuigou-Chahe
11 1999.11 3.5 105 Qingshuigou-Chahe
* Used time = the time period the river flowed in a channel. Because the river often breaches the levees and water
flowed outside of a channel sometimes, the used time of a channel is less than the time period from the river began
to flow in the channel to its shifting to another channel
** Length = distance from the Lijin Hydrological Station to the mouth of the river
*** 32.5 = 32 years and 5 months

A shift in the river course caused stage reduction in the upstream reaches. The new channels were
shorter than their predecessors and had greater slope. Thus, the flow velocity was higher and stages at the
same discharges were lower. Figure 6.36 shows the stages at Lijin and Aishan (locations of the two
station in Fig. 6.1) for discharges of 1,000 and 3,000 m 3 /s in the period from 1950 to 1990. The stages
decreased abruptly in 1953, 1964, and 1976, corresponding to the three shifts of the river course. The
effect reached Aishan, which is more than 350 km from the river mouth. Following these short periods of
stage reduction there was a sharp stage increase because of a quick extension of the new channel following
the avulsion. Another stage reduction occurred in the 1980s, which is not due to a shift of the channel but
to dredging of the river mouth.