To get a better understanding of the solutes transport between overlying lake water and sediment pore water, several water samples from sediment core, lake, wells around the lake were sampled, stable isotopes (oxygen-18, deuterium) and chloride were analyzed and used as tracers to identify the mechanism of solutes transportation through the sediment in Lake Hulun, China. The results showed that the distribution of chloride has the same characters with isotopic compositions in sediment pore water. The highest values (306 mg/L for Cl^-, -58‰ for δD, -5.9‰ for δ¹⁸O, respectively) in pore water located in the bottom of the core, however, the lowest values (159 mg/L for Cl^-, -66‰ for δD, -7.3‰ for δ¹⁸O, respectively) exist at top of the core and similar with that in overlying lake water. The well waters have the lower values (18 mg/L to 79 mg/L for Cl^-, -13.3‰ to -11.4‰ and -101‰ to -87‰ for δ¹⁸O and δD). Such difference between well water and pore water may illustrate that pore water in this shallow core was not affected by underlying groundwater, the high concentration of chloride and more positive isotopic compositions in pore water only result from surface water evaporation. Furthermore, combined with field data of historic chloride concentration of lake water, pore water with high concentration of chloride and more positive isotopic compositions is likely from the lake water during period of the lowest water level. The diffusive model results suggest the variations of chloride concentration with time in pore water reflect the transport mechanism in this study. In the period of 1941 to 1999, lake was in high and stable water level, and the chloride was equilibrium between sediment pore water and overlying water. In the period of 2000 to 2012, more concentrated chloride migrated from high chloride concentration in overlying lake water to the pore water due to evaporation and decreased river discharge. After 2012, high concentration in pore water was eliminated by lake water with diluted chloride concentration during the increasing water level. The changes of water level could be the driver for solutes transportation between lake sediment and overlying water, and these solutes transportation mechanism could exist in many closed lake in arid and semiarid region, thus, the control and management of water level is not only the effective measure to keep the lake volume, but also keep the water quality stable.