To evaluate the geochemical characteristics and assess the pollution in surface sediments of the Nakdong River estuary, two sites adjacent to the estuary bank (Hh1 and Hh2) and one site at the upper part of the estuary bank (Hh3) were investigated. The surface sediments were analyzed for their contents of metals (Cu, Pb, Ni, Cr, Zn, and Al), organic matter (IL, COD, TOC, and TN), and grain size from 2018 to 2020. As a result of the pollution assessment, there was little anthropogenic contamination by most of the metals. The surface sediments in Hh2 had comparatively abundant silt and clay, whereas the other sites were mainly composed of sand. The organic index and contents of organic matter were highest at Hh2. Multivariate statistical analyses (cluster analysis and Pearson correlation analysis) showed that the contents of organic matter and pollution were associated with fine sediment. These results suggest that the geochemical characteristics were changed by the estuary bank built in the research area and that the increase in fine sediment attributable to the low-energy environment resulted in an increase in organic matter pollution.

In order to certificate the distribution and pollution of heavy metal of surface sediments in Nakdong River were collected and analyzed for grain size, water content, ignition loss and heavy metal content. Surface sediments mainly composed of sand(avg. 94.6%) and water content and ignition loss were 20.46%, 1.53% on average. Grain size were relatively fine and organic matter content were relatively high in the Hoichun and Sunakdonggang. Most of heavy metal content(Zn > Cr > Pb > Ni > Cu > Hg) in the Deokcheongang and Sunakdonggang were higher than the other streams. The Igeo were non polluted(less than 0) in all streams and the EF were relatively high in the small stream and PLI were non polluted(less than 1). In addition, organic matter, heavy metal content and pollution were highly correlation with grain size. Surface sediments in study area, heavy metal pollution of the Sunakdonggang were relatively high compared to the other stream but these results were not serious pollution that exceed the sediment pollution evaluation standard of river and lake in Korea and pollution levels adversely affected the majority of benthos were not.