The sedimentary record of a significant flooding event in Lake Taihu on the Yangtze delta, China

Abstract

Three soft-sediment cores were collected from the western area of Taihu Lake in the Yangtze delta region of China. Sediment chronologies and sedimentation rates were determined using Pb-210 and Cs-137 methods. Grain size and microfabric analyses were used to identify sedimentary evidence for a major flooding event in 1954. Increase in grain size, maximum sedimentation rates and a break in sedimentation, overlain by rounded coarse sands, were all ascribed to this event. This shows that the longer time scale sediment record of Taihu can be used to identify the occurrence, and hence changes in frequency, of major flood events in this susceptible and heavily populated area.