Thursday, March 3, 2011











Mount Taishan's mountain complex rises from the plains in the central Shandong province 1,543 meters above sea level. Its elevation and slope causes a radial drainage pattern. The six streams flowing from the mountains summit enhance the weathering process and the joints in the rocks. Vegetation which covers 80% of the mountain, grows into the fractured rock expediting the weathering process.
Yellow River flows just North of Mount Taishan(Jinan) and continues North East
to its drainage basin.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Yellowrivermap.jpg















The Yellow River drains into the Bohai sea and flows through nine Chinese provinces, and just north of Mount Taishan. Its total basin area is 742, 443 kilometers squared.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_River
The Loess Plateau is represented by the darker shaded area
The Yellow river carries large amounts of silts to its basin each year (1.6 5 tons annually) From the Loess Plateau, where the high rates of erosion occur, silts are transported eastward when the rivers volume is capable. When the river has recently dried up in lower elevations near the plains surrounding Taishan at Jinan, this sediment would be deposited when the stream loses velocity.

Adding to sediment deposition, From Zhengzhou to the sea, fewer tributaries add volume to the rivers flow, and sediments have significantly raised the riverbeds