Abstract: Sediment contamination caused by potential risk elements has attracted widespread attention around the world. Comprehensive ecological risk assessment is the key to precise pollution prevention and control. Therefore, many scholars at home and abroad have carried out relevant research on sediment ecological risk assessment. With the help of a variety of indices, including contamination factor, degree of contamination, risk factor, potential ecological risk index, enrichment factor and geo-accumulation index of geochemical methods, with their corresponding evaluation criteria, the pollution degree of current potential risk elements was obtained. In addition, based on the evaluation results, the source of pollution can be traced. A large number of cases in domestic and foreign literature research were summarized in this study, and the application of various indices in the evaluation of sediment pollution degree were further explored through these cases. Finally, the effective remediation countermeasures and prospects of future research for sediment were proposed.

Key words: sediment, potential risk elements, multiple indices, ecological risk assessment