新疆博斯腾湖表层沉积物的孢粉分析

通过对新疆博斯腾湖的表层沉积物孢粉的分析, 探讨了干旱区大型湖泊中表层沉积物孢粉与周围植被的关系以及孢粉在湖泊中的分布和传播规律. 研究发现, 博斯腾湖表层沉积物中孢粉主要是来源于周围荒漠植被中的藜科、蒿属、麻黄等植物以及湖泊四周浅水地带生长的香蒲等水生植物. 藜科、蒿属、麻黄等花粉的传播过程主要受大风作用的影响, 而且百分比含量在整个湖盆中的分布比较稳定, A/C值能够反映区域目前的干旱状况; 香蒲等水生植物花粉的百分比含量主要受其母体植物分布的影响. 云杉花粉在河口区域的相对高百分比含量表明其河流传播特征; 云杉花粉在湖泊中的低百分比含量与整个流域的植被及其分布状况以及区域的气候条件有关; 云杉花粉具有超代表性. 近河口湖泊表层样品孢粉组合受河流和近岸植被的影响较大, 但距离超过2 km以后湖泊沉积花粉百分比含量较为稳定. 孢粉的质量浓度分布显示, 孢粉在湖盆中的分布有比较强的趋中性. 博斯腾湖中部沉积物孢粉序列能够很好记录区域的植被变化历史和环境演化特征.     

Proglacial glaciotectonic deformation and the origin of the Cromer Ridge push moraine complex, North Norfolk, England

The landscape of northeast Norfolk is dominated by a high (>50 m) ridge which has been interpreted as an end moraine (Cromer Ridge). This feature is truncated by coastal erosion at Trimingham. Evidence of large- and small-scale compressive styles of deformation is found throughout the sequence, except at the very top, where late Anglian/early Hoxnian lake sediments are found within an undeformed kettle hole. The deformation consists of open folds (including chevron folds) and listric thrust faults. It is suggested that these are the result of a single compressive event, which was caused by proglacial glaciotectonic deformation. It is inferred that this deformation is due to a combination of frontal pushing and compressive stresses transmitted through a subglacial deforming wedge. It is also shown that strain increases towards the ice sheet margin, as reflected by the deformational styles (from open folding up-glacier to listric thrust faulting down-glacier). The Cromer Ridge is shown to be a push moraine complex related to an actively retreating ice margin.     

On the history of the Late Devensian Lake Sparks in southern Fenland,Cambridgeshire, England

A section in a gravel quarry at Somersham, Cambridgeshire, has revealed evidence for a lake, named Lake Sparks, in Fenland during the Late Devensian substage of the Pleistocene. Varved sediments were deposited in this lake over a minimum period of ca. 65 yr. The varved clays contain red diamicton clasts, interpreted as dump, delivered to the area by icebergs or floes from the ice-front in the Wash that deposited the Hunstanton Till. The lake is therefore considered a result of impounding by the Late Devensian ice advance on the east coast. A small number of pale varves have a characteristic structure indicating increased calcite deposition in the summer. They are interpreted as a result of cooler summers with reduced gelifluction from the surrounding Jurassic (Ampthill) Clay. Such gelifluction introduced a mudflow into the varved sequence at the southern end of the section. Pollen analysis confirms the derivation of the clays from the surrounding Ampthill Clay. The varved clays are succeeded by fluviatile sediments related to a delta building into the lake from the north. The delta sediments show periodic influx of sand into the lake interrupted by quiet periods with the development of Chara meadows. A thin spread of fluviatile gravels succeed the delta sediments, indicating the development of a braided river plain as the lake drained on the melting of the Late Devensian ice. This was followed by permafrost development, with the formation of thin thermal contraction cracks and coversand deposition. Later, degradation of the permafrost was associated with the formation of diapirs and a solifluction mantle, and incision of the fluviatile and lacustrine sediments took place. Flandrian peat and marl later filled the valley so formed. A radiocarbon date of 18310 yr BP from Salix leaves in a drift mud at the top of channel sands preceding lake sediment, in a neighbouring section, confirms the relation of the lake to the Late Devensian ice advance. The significance of the Late Devensian sediments at Somersham lies in the information they give on the timing and variety of processes related to drainage and ice movement in the period before, during and after the ice advance to the Wash. A period of low deposition rate in the lake was followed by rapid delta sedimentation and lake drainage, with implications for climatic change.     

Sedimentological responses to basin initiation in the Devonian of East Greenland

The Devonian of East Greenland comprises a thick sequence of continental clastic sediments infilling an extensional basin. West of the main basin bounding fault (Western Fault Zone) are scattered outliers of Devonian conglomerate which accumulated in small basins such as found on the island, Ella Ø. The Ella Ø Basin formed by extensional movement along the Narhval Sund Fault accompanied by the formation of a prominent bedding parallel detachment surface which was subsequently modified by sub-aerial exposure to become the unconformity surface. Mapping of this unconformity surface shows major vertical relief. A thick sequence of conglomerate occurs on Ella Ø, which, close to its exposed basal unconformity, has three lacustrine beds intercalated within it. Detailed analysis of one lake unit shows it to have significant lateral variation. At proximal localities it largely comprises lacustrine turbidites, whereas more distal locations were within a stratified lake. The interpreted sequence of events on Ella Ø is an interval of fluvial sedimentation followed by rapid drowning of the topography with lacustrine sediments onlapping onto basement. After an interval of deeper lacustrine sedimentation including laminites, the lake shallowed, the lithology changed to limestone and the lake dried out. Conglomerate deposition then recommenced. Maximum lake water depth of 100 m is estimated following correction (7°) for post-Devonian rotation, both determined using the distribution of lacustrine sediments on the unconformity surface. The preferred mechanism for flooding of the Ella Ø Basin is episodic flooding of the entire basin system. Lacustrine sediment preservation results purely from its deposition amongst topography at the edge of the active fluvial system. In such fluvial systems lacustrine sediments may be part of the normal sedimentary cycle but were almost always removed by reworking.     

The 8.2-ka abrupt climate change event in Brown's Lake, northeast Ohio

Many Northern Hemisphere paleoclimatic records, including ice cores, speleothems, lake sediments, ocean cores and glacier chronologies, indicate an abrupt cooling event about 8200 cal yr BP. A new well-dated series of sediment cores taken from Brown's Lake, a kettle in Northeast Ohio, shows two closely spaced intervals of loess deposition during this time period. The source of loess is uncertain; however, it is likely from an abandoned drainage and former glacial lake basin located to the north of the stagnant ice topography that gave rise to the kettle lake. Strong visual stratigraphy, loss on ignition data and sediment grain size analyses dated with 3 AMS radiocarbon dates place the two intervals of loess deposition between 8950 and 8005 cal yr BP. The possibility of a two-phase abrupt climate change at this time is a finding that has been suggested in other research. This record adds detail to the spatial extent and timing as well as possible structure of the 8.2-ka abrupt climate change event.     

河西走廊花海剖面晚冰期以来年代学及沉积特征研究

选择位于河西走廊的花海古湖泊沉积剖面作为研究对象,根据13个普通14C和5个AMS14C年代结果,以沉积物岩性特征为主要指标,建立了晚冰期以来花海湖泊沉积的年代框架及环境变化过程.结果表明:花海地区新仙女木期和晚冰期花海湖泊主要以芒硝沉积为主,指示了较低的温度环境.芒硝沉积中的淤泥细线为短暂升温标志,芒硝-淤泥-芒硝的...     

Lithostratigraphy of the Mérida (Wisconsinan) glaciation and Pedregal interstade, Mérida Andes, northwestern Venezuela

At Pedregal, more than 40 m of sediments are exposed within a ‘fan complex’ formed between lateral moraines of the adjacent Mucuchache and El Caballo valleys. Early and late Mérida (Wisconsinan) glaciations are represented by till and till plus proglacial sediments, respectively. A middle Wisconsinan interstadial event, here termed the Pedregal interstade, began at the end of the Early Mérida glaciation at approximately 60 ka BP. Following the retreat of ice from the small Pedregal Basin, a lake formed when the local drainage was blocked due to movement of the Mesa de Caballo along the Boconó Fault. Shallow lake or no-lake phases lasted approximately a few hundred to, at most, 2000 years, and each lake phase was marked by peat accumulation. Four of seven peats identified formed during sufficiently long intervals for soil profiles (incipient to mature Spodosols) also to develop. The Spodosol with the strongest development (Eb/Bsb/Coxb/Cub horizons) is found adjacent to the lowest peat and reflects ongoing early Mérida stadial (MIS 3) conditions; the youngest peats, associated with weak podzolic soils (Eb/Bsb horizons), formed under slightly warmer interstadial conditions, presumably with less soil water. Cyclic lacustrine deposition is related to lake level and relative depth fluctuations, due in part to variable shoreline/delta progradation and shallowing as the lake deepened in general. Whereas final drainage of the lake is related to movement of the Boconó Fault and breach of the moraines that form the Mesa de Caballo, earlier lake level fluctuations appear related to climate change. Radiocarbon dating of the peats suggests they are related to warmer periods and may tentatively correlate with small ‘interstadials’ or ‘D-O events’ detected in the oxygen-isotope record of Greenland ice cores and North Atlantic marine sediments.     

美国怀俄明州拉那依段岩相及碳氧同位素地球化学特征

1980年6月,本文作者之一的K. Kelts曾去美国参加由经济古生物学者和矿物学者协会组织的地质旅行。该行主要是观察和研究怀俄明州西南始新统绿河组的沉积环境。对此次旅行中带回瑞士苏黎世联邦理工学院地质研究所的样品,曾作了切片、X-射线衍射和碳氧同位素分析。     

The Late Quaternary sediment successions of Llangorse Lake,south Wales

The last British-Irish Ice Sheet (BIIS) created a landscape with many sedimentary basins that preserve archives of paleoenvironmental and paleoclimatic change during the Last Glacial-Interglacial Transition (LGIT; ~ 18-8 ka BP). The typical lithostratigraphic succession of these archives is composed of minerogenic/allogenic sediments formed during cold climatic conditions and organic-rich/authigenic sediments during warmer climates. This paper presents a multi-core lithostratigraphy compiled from the extant lake and surrounding basin at Llangorse Lake, south Wales, a basin lying within the southernmost limits of the last BIIS. This lake contains one of the longest continuous terrestrial sediment successions in the UK. Uncertainty previously existed concerning the presence and distribution of sediments at the site related to the Windermere Interstadial (~ 14.7 to ~ 12.9 ka BP) and Loch Lomond Stadial (~ 12.9 to 11.7 ka BP). A new borehole survey demonstrates that LGIT-age sediments are present at the site with nekron mud (gyttja), corresponding to the Lateglacial Interstadial, deposited in the deeper part of the lake waters and that these deposits are equivalent in age to marl deposits found at shallower depths at the margins of the basin. These deposits are associated with warmer conditions experienced during the Windermere Interstadial and Holocene, whilst minerogenic-rich sediments were deposited during the colder climatic conditions of the Dimlington Stadial and the Loch Lomond Stadial with rangefinder radiocarbon dates confirming this attribution. A model of lake level changes shows that drainage of the Dimlington Stadial glacial lake caused the largest fall, but there was also a further, smaller lake level fall at the end of the Windermere Interstadial and/or the start of the Loch Lomond Stadial, before the level rose in the early Holocene. The lithostratigraphic results presented here form the framework for further paleoenvironmental and paleoclimatic research at Llangorse Lake.     

湖相致密储层有利层段的沉积与湖平面变化的耦合关系及其控制因素：以柴西尕斯地区上干柴沟组下段为例

探讨有利层段的沉积与湖平面变化之间的关系,可以对湖相致密储层的勘探开发部署提供一定参考。以柴达木盆地西部尕斯地区上干柴沟组下段为例,利用自然伽马（GR）曲线资料,进行Fischer图解和铀含量（U）-有机碳（TOC）回归拟合法,重建渐新世沉积时期湖平面变化过程,结合磁化率资料,讨论了湖平面变化的气候控制作用。结果表明：（1）尕斯地区上干柴沟组下段泥质含量和TOC含量变化趋势一致,均反映其在沉积过程中经历了两次湖退和湖进过程,有利于烃源岩和储层的形成;（2）湖平面上升期形成的高水位沉积体系,对应于致密砂岩类储层中优质烃源岩的富集层段,能有效形成源-储共生配置;（3）渐新世湖平面变化受西风条件下的气候的控制,西风带来的水汽,形成相对湿润的气候条件,引起湖平面的上升,有利于烃源岩的形成,且与有利层段的沉积呈现耦合关系。     

库车坳陷中生界三种类型三角洲的比较研究

库车坳陷中生代呈北陡南缓的箕状,其内连续沉积了一套厚度巨大的冲积-湖泊碎屑沉积体。湖缘扇三角洲、辫状河三角洲及曲流河三角洲非常发育,它们的特征清楚、区别明显:（1） 扇三角洲为突发的、瞬时的灾变事件产生的重力流沉积与间灾变期正常牵引流沉积交替进行,并以重力流沉积占主导地位:其平原亚相类似于冲积扇沉积,河道砂体呈透镜状,厚度小、变化大。（2） 辫状河三角洲为正常的河流牵引流沉积,通常受到湍急洪水控制,为季节性沉积作用产物;平原亚相类似于辫状河沉积;河道沉积发育,砂体总体呈层状,内部由若干个下粗上细的河道砂岩透镜体相互叠置而成,交错层发育,尤以侧积交错层异常发育为特征,岩性以颗粒支撑的砂砾岩为主。（3） 曲流河三角洲为正常的河流牵引流沉积,沉积物输入量为相对连续的终年河流的产物,平原亚相类似于曲流河沉积:河道砂体呈层状,交错层发育,类型丰富。当然,这三种类型三角洲之间亦存在着密不可分的内在联系,不仅同一时期内可以并存,而且随着地质历史的演化可相互转化。     

Middle pleistocene interglacial sediments at Tye green,Stansted Airport,Essex, England

Interglacial lake deposits at Tye Green, Stansted, resting on unweathered till and overlain by a weathered diamicton are correlated with the temperate Hoxnian Stage. The sediments represent the infilling of an isolated kettle-hole type of lake basin formed at the end of the cold Anglian Stage. Through the temperate period this basin was infilled by inorganic and organic sediments that record the development and decline of deciduous forest. Later periglacial conditions are indicated by the final infilling of the basin by reworked till. The sedimentary sequence and vegetational development recorded in the sediments at Tye Green are compared with other Hoxnian sites in eastern England. Changes in deposition rates are interpreted as representing water-table fluctuations resulting from changes in precipitation. The deposits at Tye Green provide a useful stratigraphical marker in the glacial sequence of the district. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Middle Pleistocene glaciolacustrine environment of an ice‐dammed mountain valley,Sudeten Mountains,Poland

This article reports on an Early Saalian proglacial lake formed between the Scandinavian Ice Sheet and the front of the Sudeten Mountains, Poland. Sediments investigated at Mys?ów point to a transition from glacifluvial to glaciolacustrine environments. The bulk of the sediments was deposited in deep‐water Gilbert‐type deltas (A–E complexes). A delta plain (topset) gradually passes into a subaerial plateau and then a clastic shoreline and the subaquatic slope of a prograding delta (foreset). The glaciolacustrine lithofacies represent a number of lake‐basin environments, from marginal subaqueous slopes to distal parts of a subaqueous fan. Glaciolacustrine and glaciodeltaic deposits locally reach ?50–70 m in thickness. Analyses of A–E complexes indicate that the lake existed for more than 130 years and that its origin and evolution were closely connected with the ice front. This case study records lake sedimentation at an ice‐sheet margin with cohesionless gravity flows, turbidity currents, debris‐avalanching and, to a much lesser degree, parapelagic suspension fall‐out and ice‐raft dumping. In the initial stage, the lake extended more than 10 km to the south, and the deposition was relatively slow. In the second stage, recession of the ice sheet caused rapid growth of a delta. The third and ultimate stage coincided with the final glacial recession, with rapid deposition occurring only on the lake bottom. The model of the glaciolacustrine environment presented here may also be applicable to many other proglacial lakes in mountain areas.     

Glacial lake sedimentation, Austerdalsisen, Norway

Sediments deposited in a lake at the front of a glacier in the Svartisen area, Norway, have been studied between 1957 and 1974. Until 1959, they were almost completely covered by an outwash plain (sandur), but subsequent erosion has exposed glacial lake sediments more than 70 m deep within a rock basin about 2·5 km long and 1 km wide. The basin was filled by sand and silt carried from beneath the glacier Austerdalsisen by two rivers, each of which deposited a delta in the lake. As the deltas advanced, laminated pro-delta silt was covered by crossbeds of fine sand and silt, and by near-horizontal sheets of fine sediments laid down between the delta-fronts and the distal end of the rock basin. Although both slumping and loading caused minor disturbance of sediments at the lake floor, deformation was of local significance only. Movement of a mass of sediment across the floor, probably triggered by a ‘seismic event’ related to movement of the glacier or to calving at the floating tongue, created a recumbent fold in laminated sand and silt, but transfer of sediment over the lake bed was rare once it had been deposited. Varves are not common at Austerdalsisen, indicating that water temperature, lake chemistry or variations of water and sediment discharge from the glacier were unfavourable for their formation; rhythmic deposition from density flows of sediments carried from beneath the glacier rarely occurred within the Austerdalsisen basin.     

Periglacial sediment variations controlled by late Quaternary climate and lake level change at Elgygytgyn Crater, Arctic Siberia

Late Quaternary sediments in a permafrost environment recovered from the Elgygytgyn Impact Crater were studied to determine regional palaeoenvironmental variability and infer past water-level changes of the crater lake. Stratigraphic analysis of a 5 m long permafrost core is based on various lithological (grain size, total organic carbon, magnetic susceptibility) and hydrochemical (oxygen isotope composition, major cation content) properties and pore ice content. The results show that alluvial sediments accumulated on top of cryogenically weathered volcanic rock. Changes in the hydrochemical properties reflect different stages of cryogenic weathering. The lithological characteristics mark the transition from an erosive site to a site with accumulation. This environmental change is linked to a relative lake level highstand at >13 000 yr BP, when a shoreline bar was formed leading to slope sedimentation. Lake level dropped by 4 m during the Holocene.     

Sedimentological and deformational criteria for discriminating subglaciofluvial deposits from subaqueous ice‐contact fan deposits: A Pleistocene example (Ireland)

A pit located near Ballyhorsey, 28 km south of Dublin (eastern Ireland), displays subglacially deposited glaciofluvial sediments passing upwards into proglacial subaqueous ice‐contact fan deposits. The coexistence of these two different depositional environments at the same location will help with differentiation between two very similar and easily confused glacial lithofacies. The lowermost sediments show aggrading subglacial deposits indicating a constrained accommodation space, mainly controlled by the position of an overlying ice roof during ice‐bed decoupling. These sediments are characterized by vertically stacked tills with large lenses of tabular to channelized sorted sediments. The sorted sediments consist of fine‐grained laminated facies, cross‐laminated sand and channelized gravels, and are interpreted as subglaciofluvial sediments deposited within a subglacial de‐coupled space. The subglaciofluvial sequence is characterized by glaciotectonic deformation structures within discrete beds, triggered by fluid overpressure and shear stress during episodes of ice/bed recoupling (clastic dykes and folds). The upper deposits correspond to the deposition of successive hyperpycnal flows in a proximal proglacial lake, forming a thick sedimentary wedge erosively overlying the subglacial deposits. Gravel facies and large‐scale trough bedding sand are observed within this proximal wedge, while normally graded sand beds with developed bedforms are observed further downflow. The building of the prograding ice‐contact subaqueous fan implies an unrestricted accommodation space and is associated with deformation structures related to gravity destabilization during fan spreading (normal faults). This study facilitates the recognition of subglacial/submarginal depositional environments formed, in part, during localized ice/bed coupling episodes in the sedimentary record. The sedimentary sequence exposed in Ballyhorsey permits characterization of the temporal framework of meltwater production during deglaciation, the impact on the subglacial drainage system and the consequences on the Irish Sea Ice Stream flow mechanisms.     

Climate Reconstruction based on Pollen Analysis in Inner Mongolia, North China from 51.9 to 30.6 kaBP

The palynomorph assemblage of lake sediments younger than 51.9 kaBP from Wulagai Gobi in Inner Mongolia was analyzed to reconstruct the vegetation and climate.From 51.9 to 30.6kaBP,the vegetation was arid to semi-arid grassland with only slight changes.According to the palynomorphs,trees and shrubs were very rare.The large number and diversity of algae indicate the presence of a lake.Quantitative climatic conditions were reconstructed using the Best Analogues Method.The results indicate that the annual mean temperature was higher than that at present.The combination of temperature and annual precipitation suggests a change in the climate from cool dry to warm dry and then cool humid.Our results show that the annual precipitation values were mostly higher than that at present but were lower than 400 mm.It infers that the study area was already within the arid to semi-arid regions but with a stronger influence of the summer monsoon during 51.9to 30.6 kaBP than at present.With slight differences mainly in time scale,the changing trend of the annual temperature curve is consistent with the other climatic records from Antarctica,Greenland,Hulu Cave(East China),and the Tibetan Plateau during the last glacial period.From 30.6 kaBP to present,very few palynomorphs were detected in the samples.Hence,no information about the vegetation and climate could be extracted.Combined with other studies during Late Pleistocene,we presume that the reason for the lack of pollen during this period was caused by an abrupt temperature fall after 30.6 kaBP or that the lacustrine conditions were unsuitable for pollen deposition.It was probably incurred by the oxidation on land prior to deposition.But for those samples only with algae,it might be caused by the fact that algae could finish their life history in a very short time in a seasonal lake.     

The peterson limestone — early cretaceous lacustrine carbonate deposition in western wyoming and southeastern idaho

The lacustrine Peterson Limestone of western Wyoming and southeastern Idaho comprises six lithofacies throughout its 20,000 km² aerial extent. These are: (1) calcareous sandstone and shale, (2) red nodular limestone, (3) pink sandy micrite, (4) biomicrite, (5) graded silty micrite, and (6) limestone conglomerate. The first two represent floodplain deposition and paleosols, whereas the remaining are shallow nearshore and deeper lacustrine sediments.This sequence was developed in a large fresh, hardwater lake surrounded by fluvial systems and associated flood plains in a warm temperate climate. Well-oxidized sandy terrigenous rocks, together with calcareous paleosol nodules, indicate that flood-plain deposition both preceded and was concurrent with lacustrine carbonate deposition. Micrite and biomicrite formed in deeper parts of the basin while sandy and silty carbonate accumulated in shallower lake-margin areas. Less-calcareous shale units which are interbedded with deeper-water carbonate were deposited either during rapid basin subsidence and deepening of the lake center or during periods of slower carbonate precipitation. Turbidity currents and subaqueous debris flows generated along steeper lake margins, resulted in the deposition of rhythmic layers of graded silty micrite and diamictic limestone conglomerate in the deepest part of the basin. The carbonate-rich sediments comprising these two lithofacies were originally deposited on shallow lake-margin benches and subsequently were transported downslope toward the lake center.Comparison with other carbonate-precipitating lacustrine systems indicates that this lake was not like modern playas. Although no known modern lacustrine system is precisely like Lake Peterson, the flora, fauna, composition, and distribution of facies within modern temperate-region lakes most closely resemble those of the Peterson Limestone.     

Late Quaternary mass movement events in Lake El′gygytgyn,North‐eastern Siberia

Lake El′gygytgyn is situated in a 3·6 Myr old impact crater in North‐eastern Siberia. Its sedimentary record probably represents the most complete archive of Pliocene and Quaternary climate change in the terrestrial Arctic. In order to investigate the influence of gravitational sediment transport on the pelagic sediment record in the lake centre, two sediment cores were recovered from the lower western lake slope. The cores penetrate a sub‐recent mass movement deposit that was identified by 3·5 kHz echo sounding. In the proximal part of this deposit, deformed sediments reflect an initial debris flow characterized by limited sediment mixture. Above and in front of the debrite, a wide massive densite indicates a second stage with a liquefied dense flow. The mass movement event led to basal erosion of ca 1 m thick unconsolidated sediments along parts of its flow path. The event produced a suspension cloud, whose deposition led to the formation of a turbidite. The occurrence of the turbidite throughout the lake and the limited erosion at its base mainly suggest deposition by ‘pelagic rain’ following Stokes’ Law. Very similar radiocarbon dates obtained in the sediments directly beneath and above the turbidite in the central lake confirm this interpretation. When applying the depositional model for the Late Quaternary sediment record of Lake El′gygytgyn, the recovered turbidites allow reconstruction of the frequency and temporal distribution of large mass movement events at the lake slopes. In total, 28 turbidites and related deposits were identified in two, 12·9 and 16·6 m long, sediment cores from the central lake area covering approximately 300 kyr.     

Suspended sediment transport,sedimentation, and resuspension in Lake Houston,Texas: Implications for water quality

Lake Houston is a man-made reservoir located northeast of Houston, Texas. The purpose of this investigation was to document suspended sediment transport, sedimentation, and resuspension in the lake with a view towards estimating the influence of sedimentation on water quality. Sediment traps were placed in strategic locations in the lake to collect suspended sediments. Samples were analyzed for bulk density, grain size, organic carbon, and a number of trace elements. These data were analyzed along with meteorological data to examine those factors which regulate suspended sediment input and dispersal, and the role of suspended sediments in controlling water quality within the lake. Sediment input to the lake depends primarily on the intensity of rainfall in the watershed. Sediment movement within the lake is strongly influenced by wave activity, which resuspends sediments from shallow areas, and by wind-driven circulation. The increased residence time of suspended sediments due to resuspension allows greater decomposition of organic matter and the release of several trace elements from sediments to the water column. Virtually all samples from sediment traps suspended between 1 and 5 m above the lake bottom contain medium to coarse silt, and even some very fine sand-sized material. This implies that circulation in Lake Houston is periodically intense enough to transport this size material in suspension. During winter, northerly winds with sustained velocities of greater than 5 m/sec provide the most suitable condition for rapid (<1 d) transport of suspended sediment down the length of the lake. Fluctuations in current velocities and the subsequent suspension/deposition of particles may explain variations in the abundance of coliform bacteria in Lake Houston.