Research progress of the Holocene paleoflood in the Yellow River basin and a future prospect

The study of Holocene paleoflood can remedy the limitation of modern flood monitoring records in time and space, and more scientifically identify the flooding regulations and mechanisms. It has gradually become one of the hotspots of the research of global changes. Due to the unique geological conditions in the Yellow River basin, floods have frequently happened in the Holocene history. The present flood risk is still very high in the basin, and therefore, it is one of the key areas of paleoflood research in China. This paper focuses on the research results of the paleoflood in the Yellow River basin published in the past ten years with special interests in sedimentary characteristics, hydrological reconstruction, chronological framework, and its relation to the rise and fall of civilization. Key problems and development trends of the current researches are also discussed, and it is suggested that the records of ancient floods at different geomorphologic locations in the basin should be further collected.