International audienceIn the frame of long-term management of contaminated dredged sediments, this paper is centered on determinating the mobility of inorganic contaminants. A methodology derived from waste characterization has been developed and applied to marine sediments from Lazaret bay (Toulon, southern France) to determine the potential mobilization of inorganic pollutants in specific conditions. It consists of mineral and textural analysis combined with leaching tests. This methodology was applied to untreated, 5.8 % organic matter, light sandy silt harbor sediment and to the same sediment after a desalinization treatment. In both untreated and desalinated sediments, the contaminant content was around 26.1, 0.18, 42.5, 34, 31, 35 and 99 mg kg-1 for As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb and Zn, respectively. After 24 hours of time contact between deionized water and sediments, contaminant release of metals was very low (ca. <0.7 total mass %, for all studied elements) due to low solubility of the bearing solid phases (organic matter, carbonates and sulfides), while Mo and B were widely released. After 48 hours, Cd, As, Mo and B release was higher while more significant but no clear differences for other metal appeared
