Dominant mechanism for annual maximum flood and sediment events generation in the Yellow River basin

Along with big floods, the heavily loaded sediments have caused devastating social and economic impairments in the Yellow River Basin (YRB). However, the regional differences in the dominant mechanisms for these extreme events haven't been fully understood. This study selected 68 hydrological stations in the YRB to examine the seasonality of annual maximum rainfall, runoff and sediment events to explore the dominant factors of the extreme flow and sediment events. Our results show that all the extreme events are concentrated in July and August with limited inter-annual variability. The flood occurrence is usually consistent with extreme rainfall events, especially the weekly precipitation. The extreme sediment events are more closely correlated with precipitation than discharge in the Middle of YRB. While at the main stem of Yellow River and outlets of major tributaries, sediment storage in channel takes over the dominance in extreme sediment events.