Historical Records and Source Apportionment of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons Over the Past 100 Years in Dianchi Lake, a Plateau Lake in Southwest China

Two sediment cores were collected from Dianchi Lake, a plateau lake in Southwest China, to study the temporal trends and to investigate the sources of sedimentary deposited polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon. The I PAH16 pound concentration in the two sediment cores ranged from 172.5 to 2244.8 ng/g and from 211.4 to 1777.8 ng/g, with mean values of 1106.2 and 865.1 ng/g, respectively. Three temporal trends for the I PAH16 pound concentration and the composition of PAHs in Dianchi Lake all showed three typical changing stages: (1) slight changes in deeper segments before the 1950s; (2) a rapid increase in PAH concentrations between the 1960s and 1990s; and (3) a slight reduction from the 1990s onward. These trends differ from those observed in developed countries due to differences in the timing of industrialization and urbanization processes. According to the results of the molecular ratios and principal component analysis, the PAH deposition was dominated by coal combustion, wood combustion, and vehicle emissions before and after the 1960s, respectively.