In winter, 1983, forty surface sediment samples were collected from the area off the Huanghe River Estuary, Huanghe and Luanhe Rivers,and the rivers in Northwestern Shandong Peninsula. The sediments off the Huanghe River Estuary are composed of biotite, hornblende, epidote,actinolite, tremolite, garnet, zircon, sphene, diopside, magnetite, ilmenite, hematite, apatite, hypersthene, schorl, monazite, topaz, muscovite,leucoxene, rutile, zoisite, clinozoisite, vesuvianite, kynite, wollastoite,enstatite, bronzite, xenotime, anatase, pyrrhotine, glauconite, quartz,orthoclase, plagioclase, calcite and authigenic pyrite. On the basis of their mineral assemblages, the investigated area may be divided into three mineral provinces. Huanghe River, Luanhe River and Longkuo mineral provinces. The materials were derived from the Huanghe River, Luanhe Delta and Northwestern Shandong Coastal Region respectively. The sands from the Huanghe River are different from other sources, and are characterized by high contents of biotite, muscovite, plagioclase and calcite, and but low contents of pyroxene, epidote, Zircon, garnet and orthoclase. During the flood periods the materials from the Huanghe River fall into the Laichau Bay and are transported towards NE direction, which has been formed main outline of the distribution minerals in the sediment off the Huanghe River Estuary. However, Rmode cluster analysis shows that the sorting of the detrital minerals in this area is not strong. The data of the measurement current and nutrient salt in the water support the conclusions which are obtained from mineralogy study.
