Diffusive gradients in thin films (DGT) technique has been newly designed for the identification of formation mechanisms of "internal phosphorus (P)-loading" and the numerical simulation of P exchange at DGT/sediment interface in Lake Dianchi. The primary mechanism was Fe-redox controlled P release from Fe-bound Pin sediments, which was revealed by COST (P and Fe), total P (Fe) and P (Fe) fractions in NH4Cl and BD phases in sediments and their relationships at sites (N-T). The breakdown of algae biomass in the top layer of sediments at sites (O-T) and the coupled P/Fe/sulfur reactions at two depths at site N played a minor role in P release. The "internal P-loading" was calculated to be 19.23 t a(-1), which was 3.0% of the "entering P-loading". At sites (1-9), DGT induced flux in sediments (DIFS) model for P was used to derive curves (i) the resupply parameter (R) against deployment time and (ii) the dissolved/sorbed concentrations against the distance at DGT/sediment interface, the variation characters of which were controlled by kinetics and sediment-P pool. Sulfide microniches in sediments related to P release were evaluated by computer imaging densitometry (CID). DGT-DIFS-CID should be a reliable method to reveal P mobilization in lake sediments. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.