Abstract: The authors of the present study analyzed abundance of 31 elements (or oxide) in 29 surface sediments from the Yangtze River estuary and its adjacent sea areas, discussed variation coefficient and enrichment factor for the element abundance, and found that sediments in the study area had obvious continental features, and the macro and trace elements were in even distributions, which were affected a little by environmental factors such as temperature and salinity. After conducting Q-type cluster analysis for all samples and considering sedimentary environment and distribution characteristics of the sediments, the authors divided the study area into five sedimentary geochemical subareas. The results of correlation analysis and R-type factor analysis revealed the main controlling factors of element distributions in surface sediments in the study area.