The modern Huanghe Delta used to be the most rapid land-building delta in the world. Its evolution has become a global concern because the sediment load of the Huanghe has decreased sharply in recent decades. However, few studies have revealed the full picture of Huanghe Delta evolution because of a lack of systematic bathymetric data off the delta. This study used 21 years of bathymetric data off the Huanghe Delta in combination with 34 scenes of Landsat imagery to study spatiotemporal evolution of the delta since 1976. Results indicate that the active lobe had an evolution distinct from the abandoned lobe. The temporal evolution of the active lobe had a four-phase pattern in both subaerial and subaqueous deltas, with different relationships with sediment load. In addition to sediment load, evolution of the active lobe was largely controlled by hydrodynamic-morphologic interactions and grain size of the Huanghe sediment. The abandoned lobe had a three-phase erosion since 1976 when the sediment supply from the river was cut off. A change in sediment dispersals might have dominated the evolution of the abandoned lobe. A newly assessed budget of the Huanghe sediment indicates that ~70% of the sediment load accumulated in the Huanghe Delta, which is much more than that estimated based on ²¹⁰Pb-derived sedimentation rates or numerical studies. The present study comprehensively reveals the evolution of the modern Huanghe Delta and presents a typical example of the evolution of a large-river delta in response to global change.

现代的黄河三角洲曾经是世界上发展最快的土地建设三角洲。由于近十年来黄河的泥沙量急剧减少，其演变已成为全球关注的问题。但是，由于缺乏三角洲外的系统测深数据，很少有研究能够揭示黄河三角洲演化的全貌。这项研究使用了黄河三角洲21年的测深数据，结合Landsat影像的34个场景，研究了自1976年以来三角洲的时空演化。结果表明，活动叶的变化与废弃叶不同。活动瓣的时间演化在地下和水下三角洲均具有四相模式，与沉积物负荷的关系不同。除了泥沙负荷，黄河沉积物的水动力-形态学相互作用和颗粒大小在很大程度上控制了活动瓣的演化。自1976年起，河流的沉积物供应被切断，废弃的裂片受到了三个阶段的侵蚀。沉积物扩散的变化可能主导了废弃叶的演变。最新评估的黄河沉积物预算显示，黄河三角洲约有70％的沉积物积累，这远远超过了根据黄河三角洲的估算值。²¹⁰ Pb得出的沉降速率或数值研究。本研究全面揭示了现代黄河三角洲的演变，并提出了响应全球变化的大河三角洲演变的典型例子。