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2077090 
Journal Article 
The natural history of Slapton Ley National Nature Reserve XXI: The palaeolimnology of the uppermost sediments of the Lower Ley, with interpretations based on 210Pb dating and the historical record 
O'Sullivan, PE 
1994 
Yes 
Field Studies
ISSN: 0428-304X 
BIOSIS/95/23505 
8 
3 
403-449 
eng 
BIOSIS COPYRIGHT: BIOL ABS. Lead-210, mineral magnetic, sequential inorganic chemical, chlorophyll 'a', and microfossil analyses of sediment cores from the bed of the Lower Ley, Slapton have been used to study the history and development of the lake, and its catchment, mainly over the last 200 years. According to 210Pb dating, the uppermost 40 cm of a core from Ireland Bay have accumulated in the period since ca 1790 AD. Multiple coring, and inter-core correlation by means of determination of whole-core volume magnetic susceptibility (K), shows that patterns of sedimentation within the Ley are uneven, with accumulation proceeding most quickly at the southern end, but more slowly in the north. Analyses of mass-specific magnetic susceptibility (chi), SIRM, and SIRM/chi ratio in the sediments, and in catchment material, indicate that since ca 1950, erosion of topsoil, associated with the post-war intensification of agriculture, has resulted in an increase in the rate of sediment accumulation within t