Introduction
Lake-level changes can occur as a consequence of climatic change, tectonic activity, erosion at the outlet, or human activity. Water-level fluctuations associated with climate changes are a response to variations in precipitation-evaporation (P-E) over the watershed. A particular lake’s sensitivity to P-E variations is primarily related to basin hydrology, or whether inflow exits the lake basin via a surface outflow (overflowing, open) or is confined to the lake basin (non-overflowing, closed). The water level of a closed lake system, in the absence of tectonic activity, erosion at the outlet, or human influence, represents an equilibrium state between: (a) input (catchment runoff and groundwater inflow), and (b) output (evaporation and sub-surface seepage). In a closed-basin system, changes in effective moisture will cause the volume of the lake to either increase or decrease until a new equilibrium is achieved. In overflowing lakes, climatically driven lake-level changes...
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Abbott, M.B., Anderson, L. (2009). Lake-Level Fluctuations. In: Gornitz, V. (eds) Encyclopedia of Paleoclimatology and Ancient Environments. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-4411-3_121
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