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Abstract. The Rio Sella in northern Spain drains a catchment area of around 1200 km2. It originates in the Picos de Europa and erodes a variety of outcropping lithologies, mainly of Palaeozoic and minor Mesozoic to Cenozoic age. These rocks include siliciclastics, their metamorphic equivalents, carbonates and mixed sedimentary lithologies but almost no (meta-)igneous rocks. Some of the mentioned rock types are only found in specific areas within the study area, and most of them are identified by specific heavy mineral associations. It is therefore possible to make preliminary estimates of the potential detrital heavy mineral contribution of each region in the Rio Sella catchment. Further sampling of modern, i.e. currently deposited, river and beach sediments allows for sediment routing during transport and recycling processes. This also includes the impact of grain size effects and signal dilution due to different heavy mineral fertilities of the eroded strata. The influence of anthropogenic activities is reflected by the abundance of heavy anthropogenic particles, and the potential of this for sediment research or environmental impact is yet to be determined. The initial results indicate the potential and necessity of detailed heavy mineral characterisation of both fluvial sediments and outcropping lithologies within a catchment. This is particularly important when aiming to reconstruct sedimentary and particle fluxes at a high spatial resolution.