The name of that mineral-rich silt is loess. In fact, this extensive Chinese river is called Huang ("Yellow") due to the great amounts of fine loess deposits that it carries to the Bohai Sea and that turn the water that color. It is not infrequent that, as a result of these thick loess sediments, the course of the river changes, and that the bed of the river is so elevated as to cause devastating, and often deadly, floods.