Srinagar, Oct 15, Oct. 16 -- Lake Ahansar in Kashmir's Ganderbal district has preserved a record of nearly 750 years of environmental change, offering fresh insights into how human activity may have altered the Valley's rivers, wetlands and agricultural landscape. A study published in the journal Catena in 2026 identifies a major shift around 1600 CE, when lake sediments changed from being dominated by mineral material carried from the surrounding landscape to deposits richer in organic matter produced within the lake.Researchers attribute the transition partly to a weakening hydrological connection between the lake and the Jhelum River, alongside changes in land use and floodplain management. However, they caution that the available evid...