More than 50 basins with areas ranging from 500 to 2 500 km 2 were chosen for an analysis on relationships between sediment yield and climatic characteristics in the middle Yellow River. They can be categorized into 6 types of basins with different physiagraphical backgrounds. A set of data on sediment yield and rainfall characteristics of these basins as well as their surface material, vegetation cover and basin morphological features were collected by using remote sensing combined with field check and indoor analysis. Based on this a correlative analysis was made between sediment yield and seasonal and annual variation of rainfall and annual average rainfall. It was shown that good positive relationships exist between sediment yield and seasonal and annual variation of rainfall, but different slope and positions of lines were obtained for different types of physiagraphical backgrounds. It can be clearly seen that the slope of lines decreases and the positions moves down subsequently from the basins of sandy loess and heavily weathered siltstone and mudstone to those of hard rock. It is obvious that variation of sediment yield with annual average rainfall follows Langbein-Schumm law, but indicate different peaks of sediment yield and different thresholds of rainfall associated for different types of river basins. A decrease of peak sediment yield and an increase of rainfall threshold were observed due to joint effect of rainfall, surface material, vegetation coverage and basin morphology when it transits from the basins of sandy loess and heavily weathered siltstone and mudstone to those of hard rock.