Huizhou West Lake is a subtropical shallow urban lake in Guangdong Province,southern China.In this study,the lake sediment characteristics were investigated to understand the impact of sediments on water quality.Six sediment cores were taken from five sub-lakes of Huizhou West Lake(Nanhu,Fenghu,Pinghu,Linhu and E-hu) in Aug.2004.The sediments was analyzed for water content,LOI,TN,TP,AAP and grain size.The results showed that the sediments from Nanhu had a several times higher contents of TP,TN,LOI and AAP,and the higher values at lower depths suggested that pollution in this area was very serious.Low variation in the vertical profiles of the sediment from other area indicated the effects of dredging on the sediments.High water turbidity was likely related to small grain size of the sediments and high turbulence caused by fish and boating activity in this lake.