Abstract: The Baihe River is a typical meandering river in the Yellow River source region. Field investiga-tions and samplings were carried out in 9 river bends of the Baihe River in 2016 and 2017. The analysis of them shows that the vegetation distributes in a shape of zonal arc along the convex bank of the Baihe River, with 2-3 vegetation communities in general, and the sizes of trees present evident gradient changes from low to high in the direction from front to back of the bend. The tree distribution and tree ages in the convex bank are obtained though tree ring analysis on the sampled tree cores and disks, and a method for estimating bend migration rate based on tree ages and tree distance is proposed. The key samples are identi-fied by drawing the tree-age distribution cloud map, and the bend migration rates of the Baihe River are estimated to be 0.28-6.1 m/a, which is basically consistent with the migration rate estimated by re-mote-sensing image. A multiple linear regression model is established based on the regression analysis of bend migration rate with its potential influencing factors. It is concluded that the flow velocity and river slope are the main influencing factors for the bend migration rate, and the migration rate is proportional to flow velocity and river slope.

Keywords: Baihe River; egetation succession; migration rate; tree rings; multiple linear regression

(Journal of China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research, Vol. 16, No. 5, 2018)