In this work, sixteen U.S. EPA priority PAH compounds in the dated sediment cores were detected from five lakes in western China. In most lakes, the concentrations of the total PAHs (ΣPAHs) increased from the deep layers to the surface sediments. Two source categories, i.e. vehicular emission and biomass & domestic coal combustion were identified by Unmix, a factor analysis receptor model to explore the source contributions of PAHs in the dated sediments. The source apportionment results showed that biomass & domestic coal combustion contributed larger proportion of PAHs in the five lakes. The toxicities of PAHs in the dated sediments, assessed by BaP equivalent (BaPE) values showed that the BaPE increased gradually from the deep layers to the surface sediments in most lakes. For the first effort, the contribution of each source to BaPE was apportioned by Unmix–BaPE method, and the result indicated that the vehicular emission posed the highest toxic risk. The percentage contribution of vehicular emission for PAHs and BaPE also increased from the deep layers to the surface sediments, while biomass & domestic coal combustion exhibited the opposite tendency

In this work, sixteen U.S. EPA priority PAH compounds in the dated sediment cores were detected from five lakes in western China. In most lakes, the concentrations of the total PAHs (ΣPAHs) increased from the deep layers to the surface sediments. Two source categories, i.e. vehicular emission and biomass & domestic coal combustion were identified by Unmix, a factor analysis receptor model to explore the source contributions of PAHs in the dated sediments. The source apportionment results showed that biomass & domestic coal combustion contributed larger proportion of PAHs in the five lakes. The toxicities of PAHs in the dated sediments, assessed by BaP equivalent (BaPE) values showed that the BaPE increased gradually from the deep layers to the surface sediments in most lakes. For the first effort, the contribution of each source to BaPE was apportioned by Unmix–BaPE method, and the result indicated that the vehicular emission posed the highest toxic risk. The percentage contribution of vehicular emission for PAHs and BaPE also increased from the deep layers to the surface sediments, while biomass & domestic coal combustion exhibited the opposite tendency