Spatiotemporal Variation of Annual Runoff and Sediment Load in the Pearl River during 1953–2017

Anthropogenic activities have had a great impact on the characteristics of runoff and sediment load along the Pearl River in China in recent decades. We investigated the spatiotemporal variations, including the trends, abrupt changes, and periodicities of annual runoff and sediment load in the Pearl River by using the datasets from nine hydrological stations for the period of 1953–2017. We found that annual runoff was stable during the study period, with only two stations in the upper reach showing decreasing trends. Annual sediment load has generally experienced a significant decreasing trend, while one of the stations in the middle reach showed an opposite trend due to severe rocky desertification and soil erosion in the local karst terrain. Abrupt changes in sediment load were mainly between the 1990s and 2000s, when many hydraulic projects were conducted, implying the significant impact of anthropogenic activities on river sediment load. Results also indicate 2–4 year and 4–8 year periodicities in both annual runoff and sediment load, with long periodicities less significant than the short ones. Our study is conducive to water and soil resource management in the Pearl River basin, whilst provides a guide for other basins, particularly those characterized by karst terrains where local desertification and soil erosion might likewise cause increase in river sediment load.