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Analysis of morphological properties in the San men Gorges region of the Yellow River shows that four river terraces have been developed at the entrance to the gorges. Commonly, thick aeolian loess-paleosol sequence was deposited on the terraces, which makes it easy to date the terraces. The dating of paleomagnetic, loess-paleosol sequence matching and thermoluminescence show that terraces T2, T3 and T4 were formed 0.129 Ma, 0.625 Ma and 0.865 Ma ago, respectively. The formation of these terraces in this region indicates that the Yellow River has experienced four intensive downcutting events during the last 0.9 Ma. The Yellow River cut through the Sanmen Gorges and inpoured into the East China Sea no later than 0.865 Ma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]