Analysis and study of clastic and clay minerals of surface sediments and their chemical composition in the sea area northwest of the Antarctic Peninsula enable the authors to divide this area basically into four mineralogical provinces: (1)the mineral ogical province of coast and island shelf of the Southern Shetland Islands, (2)the mineral ogical province of the eastern Bransfield Strait, (3)the mineral ogical province of the western Bransfield Strait, and (4)the mineral ogical province of the western Antarctic Peninsula. Finally, the relationships between the mineral distribution and geologic, structure, material sources, glaciers, currents, and environments are briefly described.