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Eight sediment cores were taken from Lake Ketelmeer, a sedimentation area of the Rhine River, located in the central part of The Netherlands. Priority pollutants (eight metals, six planar and mono‐ortho polychlorinated biphenyls, seven polychlorinated dibenzo‐p‐dioxins, 10 polychlo‐rinated dibenzofurans, and eight polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons) were determined in all or in a selected number of cores. Present‐day and historical levels of pollutants since the late 1930s were established through the use of radionuclide time tracers (137Cs, 134Cs) and area‐specific geological time markers. Postdepositional redistribution of pollutants and possible transformations were evaluated by analyzing sediment top‐layer samples that were taken in 1972. Disappearance in the anaerobic sediment was observed for several chlorinated biphenyls, dioxins, and furans, Disappearance of the chlorinated compounds may be caused by microbial dechlorination reactions in the anaerobic lake sediment. For the persistent metals and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, as well as for the somewhat changed concentrations of chlorinated aromatics, trends in the concentration profiles during the last five decades are described. Rather low concentrations of almost all studied chlorinated compounds were observed in the early 1940s. These low levels were in contrast to the metal and PAH concentrations, which were already high in the late 1930s and were lowered during the second world war. For all studied compounds, maximum concentrations were found between 1955 and 1975. Cadmium and nickel levels remained high until 1980. The highly toxic 2,3,7,8‐tetrachlo‐rodibenzo‐p‐dioxin reached concentrations up to 400 ng/kg in the mid‐1960s. Recently deposited sediments showed lower pollutant levels. The levels of lead, arsenic, and all studied PAHs were the lowest observed in the past five decades.

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