『Abstract
　Rapid economic development in East Asian countries has inevitably resulted in environmental degradation in the surrounding seas, and concern for both the environment and protection against pollutants is increasing. Identification of sources of contaminants and evaluation of current environmental status are essential to environmental pollution management, but relatively little has been done in the South China Sea (SCS). In order to investigate the metal pollution status and source within the SCS, a total of 52 surface sediment samples were collected in 1998 from the SCS for the selected heavy metal measurements such as Pb, Zn, Cu, V, Cr, Cd and Sc. The total concentrations (in mg kg^-1 dry weight) in sediments ranged and averaged (mean±S.D.): Pb, 4.18 to 58.7 (23.6± 8.93); Zn, 10.7 to 346 (87.4±47.7); Cu, 5.29 to 122 (38.1±24.6); V, 0.03 to 148 (78.0±37.0); Cr, 4.48 to 589 (105±86); Cd, 0.08 to 2.14 (0.40±0.40) and Sc, 0.33 to 20.6 (10.6±4.4), respectively. Enrichment factor (EF) values and geoaccumulation indexes (Igeo) suggest that Cu, Pb, Zn and V contamination exists only in few localized areas, but Cr and Cd contamination can be found in large-scale area of the SCS before 1998. Further studies are needed to reconstruct deposition history and for trend analysis.

Keywords: Metal contamination; Surface sediments; South China Sea (SCS)』

1. Introduction
2. Materials and methods
3. Results and discussion
　3.1. Abundance and distribution of heavy metals
　3.2. The enrichment factors (EF)
　3.3. The geoaccumulation index (Igeo)
4. Conclusions
Acknowledgements
References