Late Holocene overflow floods of the Yellow River led to the shrinkage of downstream lakes

During the late Holocene, frequent floods and diversions of the lower Yellow River changed river-lake relationships, with far-reaching effects on the North China Plain's physical and social geography. Current understanding of historical lower Yellow River flood-lake relationships relies predominantly on historical evidence, lacking sufficient sedimentological verification. This paper analyzes sediments from paleo-Dayeze Lake, a major paleolake downstream, and correlate findings with available historical documents. The results indicates that, firstly, the three major overflow flood events of the Yellow River documented in historical literature, e.g., during Emperor Hanwu, the Five Dynasties and early Ming Dynasty were well preserved in the deposits of paleo-Dayeze Lake area, especially, the 800 years relative stable state of the Yellow River following Jing Wang’s regulation at 69-70CE from historical literatures, was supported by the deposits. Secondly, the sediment of the Yellow River became much coarser after Song Dynasty, and after this period the overflowed area from the Yellow River flood could become sandy land. The research confirms the diversion and overflow of the Yellow River drove paleo-Dayeze Lake's evolution and underscores the value of integrating historical and geological evidence for studying river-lake system history.