Fig. 2: Percentage contributions to sediment flux change and contributions to sediment flux anomaly.

a Percentage contributions to sediment flux change from each pathway chain, and the dominant control factor at each gauging station. b–d Each pathway chain and its overall contribution to mean historical annual sediment flux at a representative precipitation-dominated station, Shigu station in the Yangtze River basin (b), a representative temperature-dominated station, Changmapu station in the Shule River basin (c), and a representative vegetation-dominated station, Yanqi station in the Tarim River basin (d). The bold lines in (b–d) represent the controlling pathway chains.