General Description of Water and Soil Conservation in the Songhua River Basin

摘要

The Songhua, one of the seven largest rivers in China, has a drainage area that lies within three provincial jurisdictions, Heilongjiang Province, Jilin Province and Autonomous Region of Inner Mongolia. The river originates from two sources, the Nen river and the Second Songhua. The two rivers meet near Songyuan where they form the Songhua River proper, from the confluence, the Songhua River flows easterly and eventually joins the Heilong (Amur) River, which is a boundary river between Russa and China. The total drainage area of the Songhua River is approximately 560,000 km~2, of which 300,000 km~2 area in the Nen River watershed, 74,000 km~2 in the Second Songhua basin and the remaining 186,000 km~2 in the local watershed of the Songhua River main channel. There are many tributaries to the Songhua River system of which, 16 have drainage areas larger than 10,000 km~2. There are two major floodplains in the Songhua River basin: one is the Songnen plain, another is the Sanjiang plain. The Sanjiang plain comprises nearly 2.0 million ha of wetlands, the largest wetlands in eastern Asia, and provides one of the most important breeding areas and migratory routes for waterfowl in that part of the word. The area also supports a large number of endangered species, particularly waterfowl.