Historical changes in the major and trace elements in the sedimentary records of Lake Qinghai, Qinghai-Tibet Plateau: implications for anthropogenic activities.

Sediment sequences in Lake Qinghai spanning the past 100 years were explored to assess the effects of changes in local land desertification, dust input and agriculture on sediment deposition in different parts of Lake Qinghai. Three short sediment cores (QH01, QH02, QH07) were collected from the main lake and one sediment core (Z04) from a sublake (Lake Gahai) of Lake Qinghai, China, during 2012 and 2013. The concentrations of Fe, Mn, Al, Rb, Ti, Ca, and Sr were analysed to determine the effects of historical and regional anthropogenic activities in the Lake Qinghai catchment from 1910 to 2010.

Regional environmental change and human activity over the past hundred years recorded in the sedimentary record of Lake Qinghai, China.

Environmental change and human activity can be recorded in sediment cores in aquatic systems such as lakes. Information from such records may be useful for environmental governance in the future. Six sediment cores were collected from Lake Qinghai, China and its sublakes during 2012 and 2013.