The assessment of coastal vulnerability to erosion is urgently needed due to increasing coastal erosion globally. Based on the coastal characteristics of the Xiamen artificial coastline, which accounts for more than 80% of the coastline in this area, this study provides an integrated approach based on a multi-criteria index. The evaluation index system of the local coastal vulnerability to the erosion of Xiamen includes 12 indexes based on natural (coastal characteristics, coastal forcing), and socio-economic factors (coastal infrastructure, disaster reduction). The spatial differentiation characteristics of the coastal vulnerability to erosion along the Xiamen coast (2018) have been quantitatively assessed with the aid of GIS (Geographic Information System) and RS (Remote Sensing) technology. The results show that the very high vulnerability, high vulnerability, medium vulnerability, low vulnerability and very low vulnerability areas of coastal erosion accounted for 4.6%, 30.5%, 51.6%, 12.5% and 0.8% of the Xiamen coast, respectively. The coastal vulnerability to erosion classes of artificial coasts is significantly higher than those of natural coasts. This difference is mainly controlled by the coastal slope and coastal buffer ability. The results of the evaluation are basically consistent with the present situation. The rationality of the index system and the applicability of the theoretical method are well explained. The evaluation model constructed in this study can be extended to other areas with high ratios of artificial coasts.

The world’s mega-deltas are extremely important from a human perspective and attract considerable effort to reveal their evolution, growth-related driving forces, and human impacts. Here, we report a case study on the Holocene deltaic evolution of the Yellow River, through development of a conceptual model, which is compared with paleo-proxy to analyze the forcing acting on the delta. The main conclusion is that superlobe switching was modulated by the 1500-year cycle. Cooling in Mongolia in response to strong Bond IRD events, which is coincident with warming in eastern China due to a strong Kuroshio Current, enhances the meridional temperature gradient, which then increases cyclone frequency and activates dust storms and terrestrial erosion throughout the catchment. Enhanced erosion supplies great amounts of material to the Yellow River and causes channel evulsion and superlobe development, expressed as dominant 1500-year cycle. At the same time, summer monsoon and solar forcing are uncorrected with deltaic evolution on these timescales. Therefore, we conclude that Holocene dynamics of the delta on a millennial timescale was dominated by winter cyclone activity across northern China and Mongolia.