In order to explore the heavy metal (Cu,Zn,As, Hg,Cd,Cr,Pb )concentrations in the surface sedimentsthe Xiangjiang River (Hengyang section),18 sediments specimens were sampled from 10 sections of the river for analyzing heavy metals by standard method.The surface sediment pollution levels and potential ecological risk of the heavy metals were as-sessed by using the potential ecological risk index (RI)and the pollution load index (PLI).The results showed that the average RI was 1009.46 which represented a very high ecological risk.The PLI showed that the pollution deg...