The present study aims to investigate the contamination of heavy metals in the sediments of a tropical ecosystem, India, and to evaluate the factors responsible for the dominance of specific macrobenthic communities, particularly in estuarine sediments. For the analysis of Cu, Cr, Ni, Zn, Pb and Cd in sediments, acid digestion and subsequent quantification by microwave plasma atomic emission spectroscopy was performed, whereas for Hg determination, cold vapour atomic absorption spectrophotometry was used. The general trend of the heavy metal concentration was observed as Cr > Cu > Zn > Ni > Pb > Cd > Hg, regardless of any seasonal alteration.