ABSTRACT
Where rates of sedimentation in lakes can be measured accurately for well dated time intervals, estimates of rates of erosion from the catchment can sometimes be derived. This chapter uses evidence from small lakes in the highlands of Papua New Guinea. The many environmental and logistic limitations placed on the work mean that the reliability and degree of detail of the estimated rates necessarily vary between sites as well as between time intervals for any single site. All estimates should be regarded as tentative and subject to large and poorly quantified errors. The primary aim of this work in the New Guinea highland lakes has been to reconstruct changes through time in total sediment input to each lake. Accurate whole-lake/whole-catchment sediment budgeting places demands on the study which are rarely satisfied either by the environmental context or by the repertoire of techniques available.
