Historical record and source apportionment of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in the Lianhuan Lake sediments

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in a sediment core from the north Lianhuan Lake were collected to investigate its historical changes in the last one hundred years and its possible influence on ecological system in the lake. GC–MS was used to determine the concentrations of PAHs, and sediment chronological age was examined by ¹³⁷Cs dating approach. The concentrations of 16 different kinds of PAHs in the sediment samples ranged from 297 to 1,327 ng g⁻¹, and the low molecular weight (LMW) were predominant. The intensification of industrial and anthropogenic activities in the Daqing oil field may play the key role in the increase of PAHs concentrations in the late 1950s. To the early 1980s, the PAHs concentrations significantly decreased due to the grain size coarsening in the sediment samples, which was confirmed by the precipitation information. The 5–6 rings PAHs concentrations increased in the early 1980s may be attributed to the consumption of petroleum, coal and wood. The results showed that both the PAHs historical record and current concentrations may cause some influence on the Lianhuan Lake ecological system. The toxicology research on this ecological system should be done in the further investigations for determining the PAHs damage on human and ecological system health.