Using hydrological simulation to identify contribution of coal mining to runoff change in the Kuye River Basin, China

Under the influence of all kinds of human activities, runoff decreased significantly in most river basins in China over the past decades. Assessing the effect of specific human activities on runoff is essential not only for understanding the mechanism of hydrological response in the catchment, but also for local water resources management. The Kuye River, the first-order tributary of the middle Yellow River, has experienced significant runoff declines. The coal resources are rich in the Kuye River Basin. In mined out area some cranny changed the hydrogeological conditions of the mining area and the hydrological process of the basin. In this study, the time series of runoff was divided into three periods at two critical years of 1979 and 1999 by precipitation–runoff double accumulation curve. The Yellow River Water Balance Model (YRWBM) is calibrated and verified to a baseline period in 1955–1978. Subsequently, natural runoff for human-induced period (1979 to 1998) and strongly human-induced period (1999 to 2010) is reconstructed using the YRWBM model. The YRWBM model performed well in simulating monthly discharges in the catchment, both Nash Sutcliffe coefficients in calibration and verification were above 70%, while relative errors in both periods were at less than 5%. The percentage of runoff reduction attributing to human activities was from 39.44% in 1979–1998 to 56.50% in 1999–2010. Further the influence of coal mining on river runoff was assessed quantitatively by YRWBM model simulation. The influence of coal mining on runoff reduction was 29.69 mm in 1999–2010 which was about 2.58 × 108 m3/a. It accounted for 71.13% of the runoff reduction during this period. Coal mining became a dominant factor causing the runoff reduction.