Human activities and nature factors have acted together toward the evolution of Dongting Lake. The formation and the historical evolution of Dongting Lake have been studied. According to different effects by natural factors and human activities, from the Holocene on, the evolution of the Dongting Lake is divided into three stages: from nearly 1 million years to nearly 200 years ago; from nearly 200 years to before the founding of the People's Republic, since the founding of the People's Republic. Based on the analysis of the geological evolu...