Sediment resuspension in the Lake Taihu, China

In order to examine the intensity of surficial sediment resuspension in Lake Taihu, a large shallow lake in eastern China, suspended sediment concentrations (SSCs) were measured on the basis of analysis of water samples collected using an innovative multi-level water sampler. The results show that under calm weather conditions, the SSC is relatively homogenous through the entire water column. However, when strong winds occur, the SSC in the bottom layer is 1-2 orders of magnitude greater than in the surface layer; thus, in this case, the amount of total suspended matter in the water column cannot be estimated using the SSC values of the surface layer alone. Furthermore, the depth of disturbance, or the thickness of the sediment layer that is set in motion by wind-wave induced currents, is of the order of 10(0) mm.