Sino-German team finishes field investigation into Tibetan lakes

Teaming up with six German researchers, scientists with the CAS Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research recently carried out a survey on Namco and Puma Yumco, two saltwater lakes on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, and their peripheries.
In order to make clear the spatial distribution of the lake sediments of Puma Yumco and their reflections on the deposition process, the researchers made measurements of 10 sections across the lake's sedimentation by using an advanced echo sounder system. An initial analysis indicates a rich deposit of organic materials.
To probe the depositing ratio in contemporary time and related eco-environmental conditions, the investigators collected six short rock cores, ranging from 20cm to 80cm in length.
To obtain continuous samples of the sediments dating back to the last glaciation in the lake of Namco, they put in use of the state-of-the-art technologies and obtained a rock core 1,100 cm in length at the lake bottom 93m below the water surface.
Furthermore, the survey acquired 42 samples from surface sediments of the Namco.