As the quantitative diagnostic tools,the toxic response factor ( E i r ) and the potential ecological risk index ( RI ) were used to evaluate the contamination situation of various heavy metals in sediments of the Le An River.As a result,the distribution of pollutants in the river sediments were divided into four sections with different ecological risk characteristics.On the whole,the assessing results by RI were consistent with that by I geo ,and they could complement each other.