Evolution of the Yellow River in the Houtao Plain of Inner Mongolia in the Past 2000 Years

Using the interpretation of remote sensing images and synthesis of the historical literature and maps, this paper deals with the river evolution of the Yellow River in the Houtao Plain, Inner Mongolia. The following results are obtained: It is deducted that the south alluvial fan whose acme is located near Ershiliuzi, south to Dengkou formed before the 2nd century BC. The Yellow River wandered with a converged pattern on the alluvial fan and then flowed northward until the southern foot of the Yinshan Mountains and then turned eastward.In the 2nd century BC, the development of the south alluvial fan was stopped at that time and the acme of the alluvial fan moved northward to nearby 8 km north to Bulongnao. The Yellow River wandered with a converged pattern on the new alluvial fan (the north alluvial fan), then northward till the southern foot of the Yinshan Mountains and along it eastward many courses converged. The Taiyangmiao depression between the south and the north alluvial fans became Tushenze Lake due to water collection.There are many paleochannels of the Yellow River in the eastern part of the Houtao Plain, most of which flowed from west to east.From the 6th century to the mid-17th century, the Yellow River in the Houtao Plain was divided into two branches, the South River and the North one.