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(a) World map with China shaded, (b) political map with Henan Province shaded, and (c) physical map (brown is high, green is low) with approximate boundaries of the Western Xia, Liao / Jurchen, and Northern Song dynasty and other key locations mentioned in the text drawn on the map.
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From AD 1048 to 1128, Yellow River flooding killed over a million people, left many more homeless and destitute, and turned parts of the once fertile North China Plain into a silted-up agricultural wasteland. Brought on in part by climate change and the Northern Song dynasty’s (AD 960–1127) mismanagement of the environment, the Yellow River floods...
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Context 1
... bring together evidence from archaeology, geology, and history, to discuss the role the AD 1048-1128 Yellow River floods had in hastening the collapse of the Northern Song dynasty (AD 960-1127), a period that is often regarded by historians as the apogee of Medieval China's economic and cultural influence (Deng, 2013;Deng and Zheng, 2015;Jones, 1990; Figure 1). His- torians have recently shown that people living in the agricultural heartland of the North China Plain bore the brunt of the devasta- tion brought on by the AD 1048-1128 floods, leaving the North- ern Song dynasty's breadbasket of modern-day Henan and Hebei Provinces unable to recover for hundreds of years (Lamouroux, 1998;Mostern, 2016;Zhang, 2009Zhang, , 2016. The AD 1048-1128 floods were an overwhelming geomorphic event that not only devastated millions of people's lives in the North China Plain but also may have significantly contributed to the collapse of the Northern Song dynasty. In this paper, we amplify both primary and secondary historical accounts of this event by presenting stratigraphic, archaeological, and radiocarbon evidence from sev- eral locations in Neihuang County, Henan Province, that were likely in the path of the AD 1048-1128 ...
Context 2
... bring together evidence from archaeology, geology, and history, to discuss the role the AD 1048-1128 Yellow River floods had in hastening the collapse of the Northern Song dynasty (AD 960-1127), a period that is often regarded by historians as the apogee of Medieval China's economic and cultural influence (Deng, 2013;Deng and Zheng, 2015;Jones, 1990; Figure 1). His- torians have recently shown that people living in the agricultural heartland of the North China Plain bore the brunt of the devasta- tion brought on by the AD 1048-1128 floods, leaving the North- ern Song dynasty's breadbasket of modern-day Henan and Hebei Provinces unable to recover for hundreds of years (Lamouroux, 1998;Mostern, 2016;Zhang, 2009Zhang, , 2016. ...
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Runoff reduction in most river basins in China has become a hotpot in recent years. The Gushanchuan river, a primary tributary of the middle Yellow river, Northern China, showed a significant downward trend in the last century. Little is known regarding the relative contributions of changing environment to the observed hydrological trends and respo...
Citations
... Previous research in the study area improves the understanding of flood history and pollen interpretation. Several historical floods recorded in nearby stratigraphic profiles have been reported, including Dazhanglong (Storozum et al., 2018a), Anshang (Storozum et al., 2018b), Sanyangzhuang (Kidder et al., 2012) and Shilipu (Yu et al., 2020). In addition, sporo-pollen fossils in Dongping Lake proved that the lake was frequently disturbed by inundations of the Yellow River in the last century (Chen et al., 2013;Yu et al., 2021) ( Figure 1B). ...
... In accordance with previous studies (Yang et al., 2023a;, Unit II (825-755 cm) of lacustrine deposits and Unit IV (358-190 cm) dominated by sandy soils, represent relatively stable environments during floodpoor periods, while the other alluvial sediments get deposited in flood-prone periods. This interpretation is also supported by the regional stratigraphic comparison (Kidder et al., 2012;Storozum et al., 2018a;Yu et al., 2020). Pollen zones are consistent with the paleoenvironmental reconstruction results. ...
... Nevertheless, the difference is not remarkable, and the relationship is even opposite in some cases . Moreover, the difference in pollen assemblages in multiphase flood deposits has not been discussed, as different types of paleoflood sediments are the most common scenario in the NCP (Kidder et al., 2012;Storozum et al., 2018a;Yu et al., 2020). In the LWM profile, the arboreal pollen percentage, dominated by Pinus, remains relatively high in different sediments. ...
Understanding the environmental significance of pollen and spores in alluvial plains is important for stratigraphic correlation and paleoenvironmental reconstruction. This paper presents palynological data from the North China Plain and explores their relationship with paleoflood records and human impacts since the Holocene. Our data reveal that pollen concentration and pollen assemblage vary in flood deposits (including overbank deposits and slackwater deposits) and inter-flood deposits (including sandy soils and lacustrine deposits). Flood deposits have higher fern percentages (28.6%) and lower herbaceous percentages (14.8%) compared to inter-flood deposits, though slackwater deposits share similar pollen concentrations and assemblages with sandy soils. Notably, overbank deposits are characterized by pollen-poor zones and aggregation of deteriorated pollen grains, especially in Unit III (755–385 cm, ca. 3.2–2.2 ka) and Unit V (190–0 cm, after ca. 0.6 ka). These findings suggest that overbank deposits correspond to strengthened hydrodynamic conditions at the flood-peak stage. Furthermore, the indicative pollen and spores provide compelling evidence for intensifying human impact in the North China Plain since the late Holocene. An aggregation of Selaginella sinensis at the depth of 640–610 cm indicates deforestation in the uplands since ca. 2.9 ka. Similarly, a sharp increase in Malvaceae percentage at the depth of 285–215 supports historical records of initial cotton planting in the Tang Dynasty (ca. 1.4–1.1 ka). The study underscores the value of palynological analysis for reconstructing paleoenvironment and human-environment interactions, providing a robust framework for understanding landscape evolution in the North China Plain.
... These accumulated impacts, spanning an extended period, have consistently influenced the socioeconomic development of this area, particularly over the past millennium since the Song Dynasty [27]. This period has witnessed severe repercussions linked to environmental changes and ecological security, notably including issues such as droughts, floods, soil erosion in the Loess Plateau, and downstream water hazards [28][29][30][31]. In 2019, the ecological conservation and high-quality development of the Yellow River Basin evolved into a key national strategy in China [32]. ...
Investigating the ecological and environmental impacts stemming from historical land use and land cover change (LUCC) holds paramount importance in systematically comprehending the fundamental human-land relationship, a pivotal focus within geographical research. The Yellow River Basin (YRB), often referred to as the cradle of Chinese civilization, ranks as the fifth-largest river basin globally. Early inhabitants made significant alterations to the landscape, resulting in substantial damage to natural vegetation, giving rise to prominent regional ecological challenges. By now, the examination of historical LUCC in the YRB over the past millennium remains in the qualitative research stage, primarily due to the limited availability of high-confidence gridded historical LUCC data. This study aims to advance the current historical LUCC research in the YRB from primarily qualitative analysis to an exploration incorporating timing, positioning, and quantification. Based on reconstructed historical cropland, forest, and grassland grid data of 10 km × 10 km from 1000 AD to 2000 AD, the degree of cropland development and the depletion of forests and grasslands were calculated, respectively. Then, the kernel density method was employed for spatiotemporal analysis and interpretation of dynamic changes in land cover. Subsequently, a cartographic visualization depicting the migration trajectories of the land cover gravity centers was generated, allowing for an assessment of the distance and direction of the centroids’ movement of cropland, forest, and grassland. The results indicate that the cropland coverage in the YRB escalated from the initial 11.65% to 29.97%, while the forest and grassland coverage dropped from 63.36% to 44.49%. The distribution of cultivated land continually expanded outward from the southeast of the Loess Plateau and the southwest of the North China Plain. All three types of land cover experienced a westward shift in their gravity centers between 1000 and 2000 AD. Besides the population growth and technological advancements, the regime shifts induced by wars, along with land use policies in distinct periods, always served as the predominant factors influencing the conversion between different land covers. This research will present a paradigmatic regional case study contributing to the investigation of historical changes in land use and land cover. Additionally, it will offer historical perspectives beneficial for the advancement of China’s objectives in “Ecological Conservation and High-Quality Development of the Yellow River Basin”.
... Over the last~4000 years, more than~1570 floods, 50 diversions and at least six major diversions have occurred (Wang and Su, 2011;Chen et al., 2012). These overflow and diversion events have caused enormous casualties and economic losses (Zhang, 2009;Kidder and Zhuang, 2015;Storozum et al., 2018). Based on the hydrodynamic characteristics of the modern Yellow River and the experience of predecessors in river control, China has expended large amounts of human power and material resources to ensure the smooth flow of the Yellow River for more than 50 years. ...
... Therefore, after~AD 1048, the content of EM3 increased significantly. By AD 1128, the Song army breached the Yellow River dike, causing the Yellow River to capture the course of the Huai River and flow into the Yellow Sea (Storozum et al., 2018). Over the next 60 years, the Yellow River alternated between southwestern Shandong and the Huaibei Plain and eventually breached at Wuyang in AD 1194. ...
Overflow events are important embodiments of the evolutionary characteristics of the lower Yellow River. Lakes in the lower reaches of the Yellow River have the capacity to record these events. Due to the complex provenance and transport pathways of sediments in local lakes, it is difficult to extract reliable information on sediments delivered by the Yellow River based on conventional methods and proxies. Here, we show results from a genetically meaningful end‐member (EM) decomposition of sediment grain‐size data from Huangdun ancient lake. The grain‐size of the sediments can be decomposed into three end‐members. Comprehensive analysis combining environmental magnetism and geochemical indicators clarifies the significance of each end‐member. EM1 represents mixed signals of various proximal fluvial sediments and the Yellow River materials. EM2 is similar to terrestrial fine‐grained debris in conjunction with local pedogenic materials, aeolian inputs and some Yi River materials. EM3 represents a component that is mainly derived from long‐distance transport by the lower Yellow River. End‐member analysis successfully identified overflow events of the lower Yellow River on a southward‐flowing path during the Holocene. This study provides a meaningful attempt to reconstruct the evolutionary history of the lower Yellow River from sedimentary records.
... (b) Topographic map showing the study area of the Neihuang-Daming counties. Previous research sites include the Dazhanglongcun (DZL) [31], Anshang (AS) [30], Sanyangzhuang (SYZ) [39], and Shilipu (SLP) sites [33]. ...
... It belongs to the junction of Hebei, Shandong, and Henan provinces ( Figure 1b). In Neihuang County, several alluvial geoarchaeological works have been carried out and uncovered a series of ancient flood records, including the Dazhanglongcun (DZL) [31], Anshang (AS) [30], Sanyangzhuang (SYZ) [39], and Shilipu (SLP) [33] sites. Few studies have been conducted in Daming County, although this county is rich in archaeological remains and has a long history with flood records. ...
... The sedimentary characteristics were described, including colours, textures, structures, and stratigraphic contact relationships. Bulk samples were [31], Anshang (AS) [30], Sanyangzhuang (SYZ) [39], and Shilipu (SLP) sites [33]. ...
Alluvial sedimentary records in the North China Plain are essential in expanding flood history and understanding hazard patterns in the Yellow River basin where inundation risk exists and would probably increase under future global change. A detailed study of the Longwangmiao profile in the lower Yellow River floodplain reveals ancient flooding records over the late Holocene. Slackwater deposits are distinguished by typical sedimentary features and share similarities with those in the upper and middle Yellow River. This indicates that the traditional method can still be applied for paleoflood research beyond the gorge. However, unlike confined bedrock gorges, multiphase flood deposits of slackwater and overbank deposits represent different stages of flood events. These sedimentary assemblages recorded six flooding periods, further confirmed by the analysis of grain size and geochemistry. The profile was broadly subdivided into two flood-poor phases (3.7–6.7 ka, 0.8–1.7 ka) and three flood-rich phases (before 6.7 ka, 1.7–3.7 ka, after 0.8 ka) based on the dating results. Compared with the existing related research in the nearby area, the synchronous deposition cycles of floods and inter-floods are mainly controlled by the hydrodynamic conditions of the old Yellow River course. This study provides an analogue of paleoflood research in the lower Yellow River and similar alluvial plains. It explores the potential of interlinking paleoflood records in the whole Yellow River basin.
... The lithology of the depth 320-314 cm is yellow-red-brown clay with small snails. The Yaozhuang (YZ) and Yuying (YY) sections show a lightgray clayey silt layer between two sets of red clay layers as showed in Fig. 2. Meantime, the literature recorded that the Yellow River flowed northward into Xingzhou (Xingtai city now), and a large amount of sediment poured into the Daluze paleolake under the reign of Daguan of the Song dynasty (1108 CE), the flooding that occurred at this period was recorded in the stratigraphy of a number of sites in Neihuang County, Henan Province (Storozum et al., 2018b). Therefore, the sediments at the depth of 350-320 cm and 314-296 cm were both affected by the Yellow River, which implies that the Yellow River entering the Ningjingpo twice and the earliest time of discharging into the Ningjingpo was at 3000 yr B.P.. ...
... The effects of increased sediment loads, induced by deforestation and other agricultural practices, were seen throughout the Yellow River basin by the Bronze Age, in the second to first millennia BC (Cao et al. 2010;Kidder and Zhuang 2015;Rosen et al. 2015). Neolithic populations made use of floodplain resources that were supported by regular river alluviation (Zhuang et al. 2013), but it was developments in irrigation during the Bronze Age that facilitated the expansion of human populations across the region (Storozum et al. 2018). Ultimately, however, increased sedimentation along the Yellow River increased the risk of flooding, first in the Bronze Age and then in later periods (Kidder and Zhuang 2015). ...
... Erosion of the Loess Plateau seems to have been considerable during the 11th and 12th centuries AD due to the expansion of farmers into the region from elsewhere in northern China. These conditions were exacerbated by climate change and resulted in increased sediment deposition on the North China Plain (Storozum et al. 2018). As in the past, sedimentation combined with the continued use of fertile floodplains (themselves the result of previous floods) to increase the vulnerability of local populations to catastrophic inundations. ...
... However, because populations had become dependent on production from these areas, decision makers had few options other than continued cultivation in this niche. Eventually, however, geomorphic processes left the area unusable, and farmers migrated elsewhere (see Storozum et al. 2018Storozum et al. , p. 1768). The longterm outcomes of niche construction, coupled with and exacerbated by natural environmental variability, created a selective environment that strongly favored relocation. ...
Niche construction theory has played a prominent role in archaeology during the last decade. However, the potential of niche construction in relation to agricultural development has received less attention. To this end, we bring together literature on the forms and sources of agronomic variability and use a series of examples to highlight the importance of reciprocal causation and ecological inheritance in trajectories of agricultural change. We demonstrate how niche construction theory can inform on emergent mutualisms in both inceptive and established agronomic contexts, the recursive relationships between humans and their agronomic environments, and bridges between the past and present.
... These invasion events had been aggravated by both long-term human activity and direct interference. In 1128 CE, the main levee of the Yellow River was intentionally breached to block the invasion of nomadic tribes from the Northeast (Storozum et al., 2018). Before the breach of the southern levee, the Yellow River flowed to the Bohai Sea. ...
In the northwestern East China Sea, sediment transport and mixing in both along-shelf and cross-shelf dimensions are distinguished using quantitative provenance analysis, with an aim to demonstrate a net transport pattern and thereby infer potential transport and dispersal processes over geological timescales. The dataset comprises 328 bottom sediment samples, which were characterized by detrital-mineral and grain-size analyses.
Results show that only in the south of the study area the primary source of sediment is the Yangtze River. In the north, instead, three end-member sources, i.e., the Yangtze, Yellow and Huaihe Rivers, are quantified separately using an end-member mixing analysis. Along-coast mixing between the updrift Huaihe–Old Yellow and down-drift Yangtze River systems is minimized. In exchange, offshore sediment transport is enhanced instead. This
conversion from along-shelf to cross-shelf transport is attributed to the presence of a large-scale radial tidal current system off the Jiangsu coast as well as the headland effect produced by the protruding north flank of the subaerial Yangtze delta and the Yangtze riverine plume. This radial tidal current system acts both as a trap for Huaihe–Old Yellow River sediments transported by the southward-direct longshore current, and as a transfer
center for sediment dispersal offshore. Radiating transport pathways virtually indicate an extensive mixing of Yangtze sediments and Old/modern Yellow and Huaihe sediments in the southwestern Yellow and northernmost East China Seas. As an independent dynamic system, it acts as a critical link between the Yangtze and modern/Huaihe–Old Yellow River dispersal systems. Thus, we conclude that these three large-scale dispersal systems and their complex interplay dominate sediment transport, redistribution and mixing on the eastern China continental
shelf.
... More complex quantitative methods have enabled more systematic analyses incorporating a greater variety of socio-economic factors Su et al., 2018). Studies have also examined short-term climate-society interactions and individual historical events, such as volcanic eruptions in southwestern China (Hao et al., 2020), as well as weather and disasters during the collapse of Liao Dynasty (Li et al., 2019) and Northern Song Dynasty (Storozum et al., 2018). Nevertheless, studies demonstrating large-scale linear correlations between variables such as temperature and conflicts remain the most highly cited, and reviews from qualitative researchers and scholars outside China have faulted much Chinese climate history for uncritical use of data and for climate determinism (Degroot, 2018c;Degroot et al., 2021;van Bavel et al., 2019). ...
Historical climatology is an interdisciplinary field of research encompassing the reconstruction of past climate and weather from written sources and artifacts, as well the application of climate reconstructions to the study of human history. Historical climatology has grown in recent years, and this growth has brought both insights and challenges. Research has expanded into new regions and periods and diversified into novel sources, methods, and interdisciplinary collaborations. At the same time, the heterogeneity of evidence and approaches has complicated the integration of multiple climate and weather reconstructions. Moreover, the diversity of disciplinary perspectives, terminologies, and perspectives can create miscommunication among scholars in the field, particularly on issues of historical knowledge and causation. Innovative approaches in the field, including Bayesian methods, may help address these challenges.
This article is categorized under: Climate, History, Society, Culture > Disciplinary Perspectives
Climate, History, Society, Culture > World Historical Perspectives
Assessing Impacts of Climate Change > Representing Uncertainty
The Social Status of Climate Change Knowledge > Knowledge and Practice
... ka (Liu et al., 2010;Shang et al., 2021;Wang et al., 2020;Zhang, 1984). The shift in the course of the Yellow River was also caused by human-caused avulsion due to war at the end of the Northern Song Dynasty (Storozum et al., 2018). ...
Reconstruction of sediment accumulation in river deltas over the Holocene provides a basis for understanding the relationship between climate change, human activities and delta growth. However, variations in deposition rates on a centennial‐scale over the last 2000 years remain poorly studied for mega‐deltas. Based on optically stimulated luminescence and AMS ¹⁴C ages, we calculated deposited sediment volumes in the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) for 500‐year intervals over the last two millennia for the first time. Our results reveal that the 2.0–1.5 and 0.5–0 ka periods had higher sediment deposition rates than in 1.5–1.0 and 1.0–0.5 ka, with maximum value about two times that of the minimum. A comparison with historical records of flooding and drought events indicates that a wetter climate led to a higher sediment deposition, reflecting the role of fluvial discharge in delta growth. However, the highest sediment deposition (205 ± 29 × 10⁶ m³/a) over the last 500 years is not only related to the wetter conditions of the Little Ice Age, but also linked to dramatic regional population growth. We suggest that human activities have predominated over natural forcing in determining the deltaic growth over the last five centuries. Taking the Medieval Climate Anomaly with the lowest deposition volume as an analog of current climate warming, and considering the decline in sediment loads due to recent damming and soil conservation, the YRD is likely to face an even more severe deficit in sediment supply and higher risk of delta destruction in the coming centuries.
... Although environmental conditions certainly shaped human behavior and adaptation through the Holocene, there is also extensive evidence of human impact on the environment across the Yellow River Valley (Kidder et al., 2012;Rosen, 2008;Storozum et al., 2017;Storozum, Qin, Ren, et al., 2018;Zhuang et al., 2016). Early Neolithic populations practiced smallscale agriculture and mixed subsistence, so their impact on the landscape was more minor than that of later groups. ...
... Our protocol involved a series of weighing and oven-drying steps: (1) each sample was weighed out to 20 g and oven-dried at 105°C for 24 h, (2) each sample was cooled and reweighed, and finally, (3) each sample was then burned in a muffle furnace at 550°C for 3 h and reweighed to determine the percentage of weight loss (Dean, 1974;Heiri et al., 2001;Rosen, 2008). Although loss-on-ignition can be imprecise for samples with low organic matter, we chose this method to provide better comparability with other studies across the Chinese Loess region where loss-on-ignition is common (Holliday & Stein, 1989;Huang, Zhao, et al., 2011;Kidder et al., 2012;Rosen, 2008;Storozum et al., 2017;Storozum, Qin, Ren, et al., 2018). ...
Yangguanzhai, a Middle Neolithic archaeological site (c. 5500–5000 cal year BP) in the Wei River Valley of China, contains a well-preserved record of environmental fluctuation, landscape evolution, and human–environment interaction over the Holocene. We examined eight stratigraphic profiles across the site and identified an alternating sequence of sediment and buried soils, indicative of multiple changes in landscape stability. Through this study, we provide a more detailed soil-stratigraphic framework for the site. Buried soils are well developed, with a subangular blocky structure, high organic matter content, and pedogenic carbonate. There are clear associations between buried soils and the two main archaeological occupations (the Middle Neolithic and a later historic period occupation, c. 600–300 cal year BP). Lower soil horizons contain abundant Middle Neolithic ceramics and archaeological features, and the upper soil horizon contains historic period artifacts and features. Sediment between these soils lacks any artifacts or evidence of occupation, suggesting that Yangguanzhai was abandoned as a residential area for over 3000 years. Heightened sediment deposition and landscape instability contributed to Late Holocene shifts in human land use and settlement patterns at the site. Our work is consistent with previous stratigraphic investigations at the site, while refining descriptions of buried soil horizons.
