Effective factors of land subsidence in the Yellow River Delta
黄河三角洲地区地面沉降驱动因素研究

The Yellow River Delta with the low terrain has a fragile eco-system. Land subsidence has led to serious seawater intrusion and storm surge disaster. Studying the effective factors of land subsidence in the area is helpful for oil field safety and ecological conservation of wetland. With the 20 meters depth stratum as the boundary, the effective factors of land subsidence in the Yellow River Delta were divided into two categories, shallow and deep. The effective factors like the increased surface load, groundwater and oil exploitation, sediment consolidation, and neotectonics were discussed in this paper. Furthermore, the effects of sea-level rise and earthquake were also studied. Our results showed that sediment consolidation and groundwater exploitation, which dominated different areas subsidence, were the two main factors for land subsidence. The earthquake at 1969 had led to significant land subsidence, and sea-level rise made the subsidence situation more severe.