Describes the origin and formation of lakes in order to give context to the question of how lacustrine deposits form. In order to illustrate synthetic approaches to interpreting the history of lakes, this book also discusses such topics as lake-level history, lake evolution, and the impact of environmental change on lakes.

1: Lakes as Archives of Earth History 2: The Geological Evolution of Lake Basins 3: The Physical Environment of Lakes 4: The Chemical Environment of Lakes 5: The Biological Environment of Lakes 6: Age Determination in Lake Deposits 7: Sedimentological Archives in Lake Deposits 8: Facies Models at the Lake Basin Scale 9: Geochemical Archives in Lake Deposits 10: Paleoecological Archives in Lake Deposits 1: Problems and Methods 11: Paleoecological Archives in Lake Deposits 2: Records from Important Groups 12: Paleolimnology at the Local to Regional Scale: Records of Changing Watersheds and Industrialization 13: Paleolimnology at the Regional to Global Scale: Records of Climate Change 14: Paleolimnology in Deep Time: The Evolution of Lacustrine Ecosystems 15: Paleolimnology: The Past Meets the Future Glossary Bibliography Index

This book draws together so much of value that every reader - teacher, student or researcher - will have his or her paleolimnological horizons expanded. It is a one-volume reference work as well as a challenging text. Thank you, Andy Cohen!

"Cohen has written and excellent work on the important topic of paleolimnology...Cohen provides short chapter summaries; figures, carefully selected to illustrate main points; and a comprehensive, up-to-date bibliography to his readers searching for additional information on topics that are necessarily presented quite concisely."--CHOICE, S. A. Green "It draws together so much of value that every reader--teacher, student, or researcher--will have his or her paleolimnological horizons expanded. It is a one-volume reference work as well as a challenging text. Thank you, Andy Cohen!"--The Limnology and Oceanography Bulletin, Jonathan L. Richardson "This book is a great feat because lake science covers such a wide range of disciplines that a vast array of knowledge is needed to hit all the bases. Cohen has hit a home run in covering topics such as the physics, chemistry, and biology of modern lakes, the geomorphology, sedimentology, and chemistry of Holocene to Pleistocene lakes, the faunal archives of the Quaternary, and the paleontology of fossil lakes. The breadth of knowledge contained within one book cover is impressive and I tip my hat to the author for his great efforts to cover many aspects of lake science. This book is an amazing accomplishment."--Elizabeth Gierlowski-Kordesch, Palaios "Cohen has written and excellent work on the important topic of paleolimnology...Cohen provides short chapter summaries; figures, carefully selected to illustrate main points; and a comprehensive, up-to-date bibliography to his readers searching for additional information on topics that are necessarily presented quite concisely."--CHOICE, S. A. Green "It draws together so much of value that every reader--teacher, student, or researcher--will have his or her paleolimnological horizons expanded. It is a one-volume reference work as well as a challenging text. Thank you, Andy Cohen!"--The Limnology and Oceanography Bulletin, Jonathan L. Richardson "This book is a great feat because lake science covers such a wide range of disciplines that a vast array of knowledge is needed to hit all the bases. Cohen has hit a home run in covering topics such as the physics, chemistry, and biology of modern lakes, the geomorphology, sedimentology, and chemistry of Holocene to Pleistocene lakes, the faunal archives of the Quaternary, and the paleontology of fossil lakes. The breadth of knowledge contained within one book cover is impressive and I tip my hat to the author for his great efforts to cover many aspects of lake science. This book is an amazing accomplishment."--Elizabeth Gierlowski-Kordesch, Palaios