A 1000-year extreme flooding record from NE Asia reveals the roles of climatic and anthropogenic changes in driving basin erosion and sedimentation

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Short-term hydrological monitoring has limited our understanding of how climate and human activities affect flood erosion and deposition. Here, we reconstruct a 1000-year-long extreme flooding record by analyzing drill cores from the Daling River estuary (NE China), NE Asia, based on the observation that instrumental floods normally cause coarse particle enrichment in the estuary. Our data reveal that (1) centennial-scale climate aridification coupled with vegetation coverage reduction has enhanced flood erosion and estuarine sedimentation; (2) accelerated reservoir construction and reforestation and grass planting since 1960 have consistently reduced sediment flux and coarse particles reaching the estuary. Our findings promote our understanding of basinal erosion and estuarine sedimentation under climate aridification and human pressure.