Comparative Analyses on Variations of Runoff and Sediment Load of Typical Large Rivers in the World

In past decades, owing to the influence of globe climate change and human activities, the dramatic changes in runoff and sediment load of large rivers worldwide have been more concerned. In this paper, the basic gauged hydrological data of the Mississippi River, the Colorado River, the Nile River, the Rhine River, Ganges River, the Yellow River and the Manso River were collected, and the variation trends and leap points of runoff and sediment load were studied. The results showed that the runoff variations of the selected typical large rivers were different, some were obvious or slight increased, and some were obviously declined; while the sediment load variations of most large rivers in the world were strikingly similar, presenting as prominent decrease. It was also not hard to find that the rivers located in arid and semi-arid area manifested as sharp decline in both of the runoff and sediment load.