In order to understand the distribution of elements in the environmental samples, surface water and sediment samples collected from the Saemangeum coastal area of the Korean west coast were analyzed for their concentrations of major and trace elements. Except for Cd, the highest concentrations of dissolved heavy metals were found in inner part of the Saemangeum dike and in the Geum river estuary. Riverine discharge of dissolved metal in July was much higher than that in May, and high in the Mangyeong river and low in the Dongjin river. Dissolved Cd concentration was low in the river waters but high in saline waters, indicationg desorption from SPMs with the increase of salinity (ionic strength increase). Because of land base pollutant input, dissolved metals except Cd showed an inverse correlation with salinity. DM/TM(dissolved metal/total metal) ratio of Mn, Co, Ni, Cu and Cd in waters ranged from 53.7 to 86.7% with dominance of dissolved phase. High metal content and metal/Al ratio in the marine sediments were observed in the Geum river estuary and in the southwestern part of the study area in August. In the surface sediments, TOC and mean grain size(Mz) are controlling factors of metal composition, However, TOC and Mz did not impose any significant effect on the abundance and distribution of Mn, Pb and As.