Abstract: The symposium sponsored by the National Bureau of Oceanography (PRC)and the National Oceanie and Atmospheric Administration (U.S.A), dealswith the geological, physical, biological, and chemical aspects of continental shelf sedimentation. Themes include estuarine circulation and sedimentation,circulation of shelf waters and its relation to sedimentation processes, biologicalreworking of shelf sediments uptake and recycling of dissolved constituents in the water column and bottom sediments,errosion and accumulation processes of shelf sediment and their relation to the texture and the structure of bedforms. Special attention will be paid to the results of the PRC-U.S.A, cooperative investigation of the Changjing River and adjacent East China Sea.