Abstract: | The role of biogeochemical barriers as areas of an estuary with dramatically changing gradients of water characteristics in trace metal (TM) migration in the river-sea system, and the influence of physical, chemical, biological factors and corresponding barrier zones on the transport of TM in estuaries is considered. The effects of surface water pH (the Yuriev River — the Okhotsk Sea estuarine system), salinity and biological productivity (the Razdolnaya River — the Japan Sea estuarine system) on the behavior of some metals are demonstrated as the examples of different types of estuarine biogeochemical barriers. |