We thank Associate Editor Veerle Vanacker and two anonymous reviewers for providing thoughtful comments and suggestions that helped us to improve the paper. “
“Large rivers deliver substantial amounts of terrestrial sediment, freshwater,
and nutrient to the sea, serving as the major check details linkage between the continent and the ocean. Inputs of freshwater and terrestrial sediments have multiple morphological, physical and bio-geochemical implications for the coastal environment (Chu et al., 2006, Raymond et al., 2008, Blum and Roberts, 2009, Wang et al., 2010 and Cui and Li, 2011). Riverine material in a large system is a complex function of hydrologic variables influenced by a combination of natural and anthropogenic processes over the watershed (Milliman and Syvitski, 1992), and is thus considered a valuable indicator of global change. The past several decades have witnessed varying levels of changes in water and sediment discharges for large rivers, e.g. the Yangtze in China, the Nile in Egypt, the Chao Phraya river in Thailand,
the Red River in Vietnam, the Mississippi River and the Columbia River in the United States, in addition to the Huanghe (Yellow River) in China (Yang et al., 1998, Peterson et al., 2002, Yang et al., 2006, Wang et al., 2006, Wang et al., 2007, Meade and Moody, 2010 and Naik and Jay, 2011). The Anti-diabetic Compound Library supplier five largest rivers in East and Southeast Asia (Huanghe, Changjiang (Yangtze River), Peal, Red and Mekong) now annually deliver only 600 × 109 kg of sediment to the ocean, representing a 60% Protirelin decrease from levels in the year 1000 BP (Wang et al., 2011), whereas in the Arctic Ocean, an increase of freshwater delivered by rivers has been observed (Peterson et al., 2002 and Giles et al., 2012). Many studies have attempted to link these changes
to climatic and anthropogenic drivers (Vörösmarty et al., 2000, Syvitski et al., 2005, Wang et al., 2006, Wang et al., 2007, Walling, 2006, Milliman et al., 2008, Rossi et al., 2009, Dang et al., 2010 and Meade and Moody, 2010), with possibilities as diverse as changes in basin precipitation, North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), EI Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO), land cover changes, large reservoir impoundment, and water consumption (Peterson et al., 2002, Wang et al., 2006, Wang et al., 2007 and Milliman et al., 2008). Anthropogenic processes play a significant role in changing the movement of riverine material to the sea (Vörösmarty et al., 2003 and Syvitski et al., 2005). This is particularly true for some mid-latitude rivers (Milliman et al., 2008), where water and sediment discharges to the sea have altered by an order of magnitude. Most of the world’s large rivers are dammed to generate power and regulate flow, in response to growing populations that have increased the demand for water (Dynesius and Nilsson, 1994, Milliman, 1997, Vörösmarty et al.