Nature 290, 238 - 241 (19 March 1981); doi:10.1038/290238a0

Annual laminations in the sediments of Loe Pool, Cornwall

H. L. K. Simola^*, M. A. Coard^† & P. E. O'Sullivan^†

^*Karelian Institute, University of Joensuu, SF-80101 Joensuu 10, Finland
^†Department of Environmental Sciences, Plymouth Polytechnic, Drake Circus, Plymouth, Devon PL4 8AA, UK

Annually laminated freshwater lacustrine sediments have been recorded at several sites in central Europe¹⁻⁵, North America⁶⁻¹³ and Fennoscandia¹⁴⁻²⁴. The presence of laminations may reflect either (1) regular changes within the lake ecosystem itself or (2) variation in the intensity of erosion and transport of material from the catchment, particularly where instability in the lake−watershed system has occurred as a result of human activities²². The principal cause of lamination is, therefore, seasonal variation of environmental conditions, particularly climate. Lakes with laminated sediments tend to be physically deep, exhibit a strong seasonal stratification, and be situated in areas of continental climate. We describe here what we believe to be the first reported instance of a long sequence of laminated lake sediments from Great Britain. Unlike most of the previous examples, these have been formed in a shallow, polymictic lake, in an oceanic climate.

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