Abstract: A method for characterizing contaminants within sediment comprising positioning a sampler in a continuous manner within the sediment, exposing the sampler to the sediment for a dwell time, retrieving the sampler, and analyzing the sampler. The sampler is exposed to the sediment for a sufficient period of time to allow at least one analyte of interest to permeate the sampler. The sampler may be analyzed using fluorescence and/or gas chromatography/mass spectrometry to determine contamination versus sampler length. The contamination versus sampler length may be converted to contamination versus depth or contamination versus horizontal position.