In Laguna Chichancanab, the largest closed basin in northern Yucatan, large-scale changes in lake levels have been documented by "0 analyses of snail shell carbonates. A continuous 9-m series of lake sediments has been deposited during the last 8,000 years, whereas a discontinuous sedimentary record extends from 9 m to beyond 12 m in depth. At least one marked hiatus occurred in this older record during which time the lake is thought to have been seasonally dry (or very much reduced in size). The fluctuations are verified by other stratigraphic evidence including absolute numbers of shells, loss on ignition, carbon:nitrogen ratios, and major cations (calcium, magnesium, and sodium).We here consider a new approach to determine lake level stability in tropical, closed lake basins where mean annual temperatures have remained relatively stable in comparison with changes in rates of inflow and evaporation. The general goal is to document long term changes in the lake's water balance and to relate this information to population dynamics of aquatic organisms, particularly benthic molluscs living in the littoral zone. We use "closed lake" to mean a lake which receives inflow from precipitation and its drainage basin but loses water only by evaporation. Many previous studies on lake level stability ( see Richardson 1969 for a review ) have emphasized the need to correlate several independent lines of evidence. This isotopic analysis is another direct approach which can yield unique information unavailable from other types of analyses of closed, tropical lakes.Naturally occurring isotopes of 180 and 14C can be considered tagged atoms and their movements monitored for the long term study of water balance. These iso-'