Abstract: In thes paper, the method of extracting several pigments including chlorophyll, carotenoids, oscillaxanthin and myxoxanthophyll is introduced. The pigments are measured with UV-Vis spectrophotometry and the formulas to calculate their contents in lake sediments are also described.Finally,the pigment contents of a columnar core in Dianchi of Yunnan Province are measured to show the significance of pigment analysis in the sedimentology study.