A c. 300-year oxygen and carbon isotope record derived from fine-grained and ostracod carbonate from Qinghai Lake testifies to dramatic interannual to interdecadal limnological change. Fine-grained carbonates, which are mainly authigenic, are likely to have formed in the epilimnion of the lake and their isotopic composition reflects the summer temperature and, more importantly, the isotopic composition of the near-surface waters, which is mainly a function of evaporative concentration. Ostracod shells are secreted in the benthos of the lake, and their isotopic composition reflects summer bottom-water conditions, together with fractionation effects, which may differ between species. Differences between contemporaneous values from authigenic carbonates and ostracod shells may provide an indication of stratification within the lake and variations in effective precipitation over the northeast part of the Tibetan Plateau over the past 300 years. A period of moderate evaporative concentration, from about 300 to 100 yr BP, was interrupted by a marked wet phase from ~100 to 40 yr BP, which was in turn followed by a return to drier conditions in the most recent part of the record. The increase in d 18O values in the latter part of the record accords well with instrumental records of lake-level lowering and salinity increase since about 1955 AD. A c. 300-year oxygen and carbon isotope record derived derived from fine-grained and ostracod carbonate from Qinghai Lake testifies to dramatic interannual to interdecadal limnological change. Fine-grained carbonates, which are mainly authigenic, are likely to have formed in the epilimnion of the lake and their isotopic composition reflects the summer temperature and, more importantly, the isotopic composition of the near-surface waters, which is mainly a function of evaporative concentration. Ostracod shells are secreted in the benthos of the lake, and their isotopic composition summer bottom-water conditions, together with fractionation effects, which may differ between species. Differences between contemporaneous values ​​from authigenic carbonates and ostracod shells may provide an indication of stratification within the lake and variations in effective precipitation over the northeast part of the Tibetan Plateau over the past 300 years. A period of moderate evaporative concentratio n, from about 300 to 100 yr BP, was interrupted by a marked wet phase from ~ 100 to 40 yr BP, which was in turn followed by a return to drier conditions in the most recent part of the record. The increase in d 18O values ​​in the latter part of the record accords well with instrumental records of lake-level lowering and salinity increase since about 1955 AD.