Visualization analysis of global research on river and lake sediment pollution management based on CiteSpace

River and lake sediment is a crucial and sensitive area for the interaction between nature and human activities in the Earth's spheres. CiteSpace was applied to analyze the status quo of global river and lake sediment pollution management from 1983 to 2023. New ideas and application technologies for river and lake sediment pollution control were provided by tracking research hotspots and trends. The results indicated that the number of research papers increased rapidly approximately 2,000. Four productive teams were selected whose research focused on (1) the solidification and stabilization of contaminated sediment (team of Tsang, D.C.W., 2017–2020), (2) the adsorption and interception of persistent organic pollution (team of Cornelissen, G., 2008–2017), (3) the remediation of heavy metal pollution by novel nanomaterials (team of Zeng, G., 2016–2019), and (4) the remediation of heavy metal fields by plants (team of Tack, F.M.G., 2000–2005). In addition, interdisciplinary studies in this field are rare. Polychlorinated biphenyls, cadmium, copper, and other pollutants appeared successively, and the foregoing research tracks of pollutants reflect the development of industrial technology and changes in human lifestyles. Research on plant adsorption, microbial community degradation, and chemical fixation has exceeded the description of the physical and chemical properties of sediment pollutants. Since 2015, activated carbon, ecological risk, environmental change, and management have emerged. The current research highlights two new trends, namely, green environmental protection and environmental change, in terms of management risks in the fields of river and lake sediment pollution. This study contributes to an uplink sensing scheme for lake sediment pollution management in the future.