Editing Yellow River (section)

==Characteristics==
{{More citations needed section|date=May 2009}}
[[File:Yellow River Delta Animation.gif|thumb|Expansion of the Yellow River Delta from 1989 to 2009 in five-year intervals.]]
[[File:Yellow River Delta.jpeg|thumb|right|300px|Yellow River Delta]]
The Yellow River is notable for the large amount of [[silt]] it carries—1.6 billion tons annually at the point where it descends from the [[Loess Plateau]]. If it is running to the sea with sufficient volume, 1.4 billion tons are carried to the sea per year.{{Citation needed|date=May 2009}} One estimate gives 34 kilograms of silt per cubic meter, as opposed to 10 for the [[Colorado River|Colorado]] and 1 for the [[Nile]].<ref name="Treg"/>

Its average discharge is said to be 2,110 cubic meters per second (32,000 for the Yangtze), with a maximum of 25,000 and minimum of 245. However, since 1972, it often runs dry before it reaches the sea. The low volume is due to increased agricultural irrigation, increased by a factor of five since 1950. Water diverted from the river as of 1999 served 140 million people and irrigated {{convert|74,000|km2|sqmi|abbr=on}} of land.<ref name="video.nytimes.com">[https://www.nytimes.com/video/2007/05/30/world/asia/1194817118362/chinas-yellow-river-part-1.html China's Yellow River, Part 1]. ''The New York Times'' (2007-05-30)</ref> The Yellow River delta totals {{convert|8,000|km2|mi2|abbr=off|sp=us}}. However, with the decrease in silt reaching the sea, it has been reported to be shrinking slightly each year since 1996 through erosion.<ref>[http://china.org.cn/english/2005/Feb/119497.htm Yellow River Delta Shrinking 7.6 Square Kilometers Annually], ''China Daily'' 1 February 2005</ref>

The highest volume occurs during the rainy season from July to October, when 60% of the annual volume of the river flows. Maximum demand for irrigation is needed between March and June. In order to capture excess water for use when needed and for flood control and electricity generation, several dams have been built, but their expected life is limited due to the high silt load. A proposed [[South–North Water Transfer Project]] involves several schemes to divert water from the [[Yangtze]]: one in the western headwaters of the rivers where they are closest to one another, another from the upper reaches of the [[Han River (Hanshui)|Han River]], and a third using the route of the old [[Grand Canal of China|Grand Canal]].{{Citation needed|date=May 2009}}

Due to its heavy load of silt the Yellow River is a [[Deposition (geology)|depositing]] stream{{spaced ndash}}that is, it deposits part of its carried burden of soil in its bed in stretches where it is flowing slowly. These deposits elevate the riverbed which flows between [[levee|natural levee]]s in its lower reaches. Should a flood occur, the river may break out of the levees into the surrounding lower flood plain and take
a new channel. Historically this has occurred about once every hundred years. In modern times, considerable effort has been made to strengthen levees and control floods.{{Citation needed|date=May 2009}}