To simulate the behavior of radionuclides along a salinity gradient, in vitro sorption and desorption kinetics of Co, Mn, Cs, Fe, Ag, Zn and Cd were studied in Loire river water and the macrotidal Loire estuarine water over two different seasons. Partitioning between the dissolved phase and suspended solids were followed up over 100 h after adding radioactive tracers to freshly collected freshwater (sorption stage); this stage was followed by desorption in fresh and estuarine waters. A kinetic model describing the interactions between trace metals and particles under a salinity gradient was developed and calibrated. Among parameters and/or processes that control the fate and behavior of contaminated particles during their transfer in estuarine systems, this study shows that the speciation of trace metals is controlled by: (i) the chemical water composition: for all the elements except for Fe, desorption increased with salinity; however, the amplitude of such an effect strongly depended on the element and/or on the composition of the particulate phase (and consequently on the season); (ii) the possibility for a given element to form (or not) stable surface particle moieties such as oxides or inner-sphere complexes; (iii) the distribution of a given element among different types of sites characterised by different binding forces that can lead (or not) to re-adsorption processes after mixing of contaminated particles with uncontaminated water. Our model enabled the quantification of the contribution and the characteristic time of reactions that took place over short and long periods on the global partitioning between particulate and dissolved phases during sorption and desorption and to determine the extent to which these reactions were modified by the salinity.