Abstract:Total phosphorus (TP),inorganicphosphorus (IP),organicphosphorus (OP),Fe/Al bound phosphorus (Fe/AlP) and Ca bound phosphorus (CaP) in surface sediments and sediment cores of urban rivers in Chaohu City of Anhui Province were measured based on the modified standard measurement and test (SMT) procedure of phosphorus forms in the freshwater sediments.The correlations between phosphorus forms and organic matter content were also analyzed.The results show that the TP content in surface sediments varies from 832.09 to 2 572.41 mg?kg-1.Fe/AlP is the major phosphorus species,and accounts for 42.0%~62.3% of TP.With the increase of depth,the trends of all phosphorus forms first increase and then decrease,and different sampling sites have different peak depths,which can well indicate surrounding environment status and changes in pollution load into the river.For the sediments of different depths,there are significant (P<0.01) positive correlations between all phosphorus forms,and the correlations between organic matter contents and different phosphorus forms are also significant.