History of fuel consumption inferred from polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in sediments from the south Lianhuan Lake, northeast China.

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are a group of persistent organic pollutants of global concern. The current study uses differences in PAH profiles in 1 cm core sediment samples from south Lianhuan Lake, Heilongjiang Province, China to evaluate historical changes in fuel sources. Individual core segments were dated using (137)Cs techniques and concentrations of 16 priority PAHs were measured. Principal components analysis with multivariate linear regression and PAH profiles of specific combustion sources were used to identify historical fuel use. During the early 1940s to the early 1970s, PAHs concentrations increases with the increased combustion of coal, and relatively high petroleum source could be linked to the establishment of the Daqing Oil Field. The source apportionment suggested that coal combustion replaced wood burning and became the dominant fuel since the 1940s and petroleum source increased. These results were coincidence with the rapid economic growth occurring in China.