Interpretation of the environmental change of Poyang Lake by 210Pb measurement

The present study examined the recent environmental history of the Poyang Lake, located in the middle Yangtze River region, central China. High sedimentation rates, revealed by ²¹⁰Pb measurement in different periods of the lake, ranged from 0.035 to 1.08cm/year. The results indicate that the change of sedimentation rate is correlative to the intensity of human activities. In addition, pressures from a growing population and associated human activities, such as reclamation, embanking, aquaculture, slope modification and deforestation, are compounding the loss of the lake surface area and associated storage capacity.