Abstract This study investigated the distributions of polyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in the sediment cores collected from continental shelf of Gaoping submarine canyon. The sediment cores were analyzed for PAHs to reconstruct historical contamination record of these compounds and to find out the possible sources, trends and fluxes. The average concentrations of £U50 and £U16 PAHs ranged from 568 to 816 ng/g and from 169 to 256 ng/g, respectively. Except for sediment cores L10 and L26, the high molecular weight PAHs (4-6 ring PAHs) were found dominant in 1960s-2006, while the low molecular weight PAHs (2-3 ring PAHs) were found dominant before 1960s. Results from diagnostic ratios and hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) both suggested that sources of PAHs in the cores of southern continental shelf were primarily from petrogenic, while those in the cores of northern continental shelf were from pyrogenic and petroleum combustion. There is a significant increasing of total PAH concentrations between 1930-1950, suggesting that might be an evident during the World War II. Due to increase of importing fossil fuel and the growth of heavy industrials in Gaoping area, the total concentrations of PAHs showed an increasing trend again since 1950s in the core from continental shelf of Gaoping submarine canyon. In addition, during 1990-2006, the total concentrations of PAHs showed a decreasing trend might result from the environmental protection laws. It is noteworthy that in L28 and L29 sediment cores, the increase of total PAH concentrations recorded during 1990-2006 may be due to the dumping of the sludge from dredged Kaohsiung harbor sediments. Comparing with the sediment quality guidelines (SQG), the PAH concentrations in the northern continental shelf sediment samples were higher than the Threshold Effect Level (TEL) value, suggesting there might be an adverse biological effects caused by PAHs. Keywords¡GPolycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), Kaohsiung harbor, Sediment quality guidelines (SQG)