GEOGRAPHIC VARIATIONS OF THE COMPOSITIONS OF SUSPENDED MATTER IN THE YELLOW RIVER
黄河悬浮物组成的地理分异

Huanghe is located in semidry and semi-humid areas and temperate climate zone.The soil formation processes have been disturbed by extremely serious soil erosion.The compositions of suspended matter in the Huanghe (Yellow River) were controlled by physical weathering.This was indicated by the following observations.1) Most of the suspended matter,no matter from upper,middle or lower reaches,was products of physical breakdown of existing crystals,such as quartz,feldspar,mica and chlorite,2) The differences in grain size distribution between the suspended matter in middle reach and loess may be only due to deposition of coarse particles during transport by water,3) Correspondingly,the quartz content,which makes up the major part of coarse particles,is lower than that in loess,and the contents of feldspar and mica are higher.