We present results from synchrotron-radiation and x-ray-photoemission studies of the reaction, atomic redistributions, and Schottky-barrier formation for Pd/InP(110), Pd/GaAs(110), and Pd/InSb(110) interfaces. These systems exhibit adatom-induced substrate disruption and the release of both anions and cations, with an estimated amount of substrate disruption of \ensuremath{\sim}6A\r{} for InP and GaAs and \ensuremath{\sim}5 A\r{} for InSb. The low-coverage results (6 A\r{}) show a core-level photoemission feature that arises from a transition layer representing the true interface between the substrate and evolving overlayer. The distribution of the released semiconductor atoms changes with Pd deposition, exhibiting a characteristic profile after \ensuremath{\sim}10 A\r{} corresponding to preferential anion segregation. Detailed line-shape analysis of anion core levels shows two chemically shifted components due to anions segregated to the free Pd surface and, at higher binding energy, dissolved in the Pd matrix. In contrast, the cation core-level spectra reveal a single component at high coverages which reflects cations expelled from the initially disrupted substrate and distributed in the growing overlayer. The anion segregation, which is most pronounced for Pd/InSb(110) and is smallest for Pd/InP(110), can be correlated with atomic size (3.12 A\r{} for Sb and 2.67 A\r{} for P). X-ray-photo- emission--spectroscopy sputter depth profiles obtained after the growth of 100 A\r{} of Pd show a higher concentration of surface segregated anions for GaAs compared to InP. Measurements of the Fermi-level positions with respect to the conduction-band minimum show continuous changes in band bending for n-type InP and GaAs, reaching 0.75\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.02 and 1.01\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.02 eV, respectively, after 7 A\r{} deposition.