Ninety-seven surface sediment samples, collected from the southeastern part of the Yellow Sea, were analyzed for their contents of five metallic elements, including Fe, Mn, Ni, Cu and Pb as well as their grain-size and calcium carbonate content. The result showed a contrasting behaviour among the five metallic elements. with respect to their relationship with the sediment grain0size. contents of nickel and copper demonstrated a fairly linear relationship with the pediment grain-size whereas those of manganese and lead did not. This different behaviour in these metals was interpreted as being the result of the anthropogenic inputs (for Pb) and modification during the early diagenesis (for Mn). The R0mode factor analysis result also confirmed the different behaviour of manganese and lead from that of copper and nickel. Based on this different behaviour in metals the (Mn+Pb)/(Cu+Ni) ratio was suggested as a possible criterion for distinguishing the fine sediments in the study area, which originated from two different source area. China and Korea.