Landscape ecological risk assessment and its driving factors in the Weihe River basin,China

Weihe River basin is of great significance to analyze the changes of land use pattern and landscape ecological risk and to improve the ecological basis of regional development.Based on land use data of the Weihe River basin in 2000,2010,and 2020,with the support of Aeronautical Reconnaissance Coverage Geographic Information System(ArcGIS),GeoDa,and other technologies,this study analyzed the spatial-temporal characteristics and driving factors of land use pattern and landscape ecological risk.Results showed that land use structure of the Weihe River basin has changed significantly,with the decrease of cropland and the increase of forest land and construction land.In the past 20 a,cropland has decreased by 7347.70 km2,and cropland was mainly converted into forest land,grassland,and construction land.The fragmentation and dispersion of ecological landscape pattern in the Weihe River basin were improved,and land use pattern became more concentrated.Meanwhile,landscape ecological risk of the Weihe River basin has been improved.Severe landscape ecological risk area decreased by 19,177.87 km2,high landscape ecological risk area decreased by 3904.35 km2,and moderate and low landscape ecological risk areas continued to increase.It is worth noting that landscape ecological risks in the upper reaches of the Weihe River basin are still relatively serious,especially in the contiguous areas of high ecological risk,such as Tianshui,Pingliang,Dingxi areas and some areas of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region.Landscape ecological risk showed obvious spatial dependence,and high ecological risk area was concentrated.Among the driving factors,population density,precipitation,normalized difference vegetation index(NDVI),and their interactions are the most important factors affecting the landscape ecological risk of the Weihe River basin.The findings significantly contribute to our understanding of the ecological dynamics in the Weihe River basin,providing crucial insights for sustainable management in the region.

Characteristics and driving factors of abandoned cultivated land in the hilly regions of southern China:A case study in Longnan,Jiangxi Province

The abandonment of cultivated land in southern China was gradually obvious.This research aims to provide a reference for solving the abandonment of cultivated land in hilly regions and promote rural development in China.We examined Longnan county located in the hilly regions of southern China as an example,where abandoned cultivated land is very common.We analyzed its land use data with a field survey to identify the abandoned cultivated land and geospatial characteristics.From the two aspects of social and natural factors,we analyzed the factors driving cultivated land abandonment with the help of Geodetector.The results showed that in 2019,the total area of the abandoned cultivated land in Longnan county was 4,962.35 hm^(2),covering 39.51% of this region.Among the topographic factors,the abandonment rate is positively correlated with elevation and slope gradient,but not with slope direction.Among the land parcel conditions,the abandonment rate is positively correlated with the access to road network and cultivation distance from settlement.At the county level,the abandonment of cultivated land in study area was affected by multiple factors,among which,the direct factor was the reduction in the labor force,such as the decrease of farming laborers and the increase of female population,which made farming unsustainable.Changes in production factors also promoted transformations in farmers’motivation to engage in production,such as the decrease of grain crops and the increase of cash crops,which was the indirect factor affecting cultivated land abandonment.The development of the rural nonagricultural industry affected farmers’enthusiasm,such as the decrease of farming households,which was the fundamental factor leading to cultivated land abandonment in this area.

Research on the Distribution of Incremental Benefits from the Entry of Collective Construction Land into the Market

In this paper,based on the process data of evaluating the benchmark land prices of collective construction land and agricultural land,the score of influencing factors is calculated,and a regression model between value-added benefits and influencing factors is established.According to the contribution of the government and collectives to value-added benefits,the distribution proportions of different purposes and levels are calculated.The research results show that there are significant differences in the distribution proportion of value-added income among different levels.The government distribution proportion decreases with the decrease of level,while the collective distribution proportion increases with the decrease of level.For each level of decrease in commercial service industry land and industrial and mining warehousing industry land,the government distribution proportion decreases by an average of 2.66%and 2.34%,while the collective distribution proportion increases by an average of 2.66%and 2.34%,respectively.The average distribution proportion of the government in the value-added income of commercial service industry land is 31.58%,which is much higher than the average income of 23.68%in the value-added income of industrial and mining warehousing industry land.

Protection of Collective Rights of Rural Members in the Process of Land Transfer under Shareholding Cooperative Systems

According to the legal definitions of land transfer under shareholding cooperative systems,rural groups,collective rights of members,and this paper discloses the necessity of protecting the collective rights of members.In terms of qualification definition of members,rights of fetus,married daughters and sons in law cannot be guaranteed.In terms of rights protection,partial rights cannot be assured,power of personal stake inthe collective members is imperfect which results in inadequate,unbalanced,shaky and unpunctuated benefits.Based on objective and subjectivecauses,the democratic management rights of members in land transfer process have been weakened or even deprived,the protection of the basiclife is hard to realize.The paper proposes that it is necessary to build the social protection mechanisms of rural land shareholding cooperative sys-tems.The first is to treat those members that own land,attending the shareholding cooperation but having not taken part in the land transfer proces-sion as the protection objects.The second is in the procession of land transfer,making it clear the compensation standards of land transfer,estab-lishing the intermediate agencies of land transfer and performing the collective economic organizing functions.The third is that the account capital ofsocial protection is contributed together by personal member,the land users(shareholding cooperative companies) and government.The fourth isto pay more attention to the added value and safety management of capital operation.

Integrating potential distribution of dominant vegetation and land use into ecological restoration in the Yellow River Basin,China

Due to the influence of human activities such as cultivation and urban construction,the ecosystem of the Yellow River Basin(YRB)is subjected to increased vulnerability and even potential risk of destruction.Ecological restoration has led to an increase in vegetation,but excessive afforestation conversely results in low survival rate of trees,water shortages,and biodiversity loss.It is of great significance for achieving sustainable development of forests to reasonable revegetation in the region.At present,the potential distribution pattern of dominant species and their mixed forms in the basin has not been effectively studied.This study simulated the potential distribution of dominant vegetation in the YRB based on Maximum Entropy(Max Ent)and Genetic Algorithm for Rule-Set Prediction(GARP)and explored the impact of human interference on it by employing land use as the environmental filter to distinguish the regions of human activities.We further predicted the potential distribution of typically mixed forests and discussed their human interference.The main results are as follows:(1)Except for Caragana korshinskii,all models had good above performance(0.7<the mean AUC<1).Except for Caragana korshinskii,the area under the curve(AUC)for 90%of the models indicated that Max Ent performed better than GARP,and Max Ent easily lead to over-fitting while GARP predicted a wider range.(2)Except for Nitraria tangutorum,the dominant types of vegetation such as Pinus tabulaeformis,Platycladus orientalis,and Hippophae rhamnoides mainly distributed in southern Gansu,Shaanxi,and south-central Shanxi.Among them,the largest suitable area of Artemisia gmelinii and Stipa bungeana(High suitable area)were approximately 56.7×104 km2(38.8%)and 54.7×104 km2(28.5%)with the area occupied by large-scale cultivation being 17.5×104 km2(39.4%)and 18.9×104 km2(48%),respectively,which indicated human activities caused great damage to the core growth regions of these vegetation.(3)Mean temperature of coldest quarter or month mainly constrained the growth of most vegetation in the YRB in terms of temperature,while precipitation of wettest/driest month is one of the dominant factors.However,some vegetation responded differently to other meteorological factors due to niche differences.(4)Most of the mixed forests were distributed in southern Gansu,Shaanxi,and Shanxi provinces;its middle and high suitable areas were mainly concentrated in Shaanxi and southern and central Shanxi,where the cultivated land had occupied most of them.Therefore,the results showed that the restoration of herbaceous vegetation such as Artemisia gmelinii and Stipa bungeana has a high potential and it is appropriate that the measures for afforestation should be concentrated in the areas like the lower reaches of the Weihe,Jinghe,and Beiluo rivers and Luliang Mountain,where the cultivated land overlaps with the high suitable areas of the corresponding vegetation and the mixed forests with less water consumption and wide distribution,such as Caragana korshinskii-Hippophae rhamnoides,Pinus tabulaeformis-Quercus liaotungensis,and Ostryopsis davidiana-Stipa bungeana-Hippophae rhamnoides.The results of this study can provide effective guidance for mixed forest plantations and vegetation conservation in the YRB.

Multifractal characteristics and spatial variability of soil particle-size distribution in different land use patterns in a small catchment of the Three Gorges Reservoir Region,China

Characterizing soil particle-size distribution is a key measure towards soil property.The purpose of this study was to evaluate the multifractal characteristics of soil particle-size distribution among different land-use from a purple soil catchment and to generalize the spatial variation trend of multifractal parameters across the catchment.A total of 84 soil samples were collected from four kinds of land use patterns(dry land,orchard,paddy,and forest)in an agricultural catchment in the Three Gorges Reservoir Region,China.The multifractal analysis method was applied to quantitatively characterize the soil particle size distribution.Six soil particle size distribution(PSD)multifractal parameters(D(0),D(1),D(2),(35)a(q),(35)f[a(q)],α(0))were computed.Additionally,a geostatistical analysis was employed to reveal the spatial differentiation and map the spatial distribution of these parameters.Evident multifractal characteristics were found.The trend of generalized dimension spectrum of four land use patterns was basically consistent with the range of 0.8 to 2.0.However,orchard showed the largest monotonic decline,while the forest demonstrated the smallest decrease.D(0)of the four land use patterns were ranked as:dry land<orchard<forest<paddy,the order of D(1)was:dry land<paddy<orchard<forest,D(2)presented a rand-size relationship as dry land<forest<paddy<orchard.Furthermore,all land-use patterns presented asΔf[α(q)]<0.The rand-size relationship ofα(0)was same as D(0).The best-fitting model for D(0),D(1),D(2)andΔf[α(q)]was spherical model,forΔα(q)was gaussian model,and forα(0)was exponential model with structure variance ratio was 1.03%,49.83%,0.84%,1.48%,22.20%and 10.60%,respectively.The results showed that soil particles of each land use pattern were distributed unevenly.The multifractal parameters under different land use have significant differences,except forΔα(q).Differences in the composition of soil particles lead to differences in the multifractal properties even though they belong to the same soil texture.Farming behavior may refine particles and enhance the heterogeneity of soil particle distribution.Our results provide an effective reference for quantifying the impact of human activities on soil system in the Three Gorges Reservoir region.

Dislocation and Regression of the Role of Collective in Land Transfer

This paper expounds the origin of "collective" in the process of collective land transfer, and analyzes the dislocation phenomenon of the role of collective in the process of collective land transfer as follows: deviation of the role under the conflict of identity; offside of the role under the limitation of democratic construction; omission of the role under the segmentation of interests. In order to protect the legitimate rights of farmers, we should make the role of collective to revert on the basis of township government, farmer and collective, so that the role of collective is restored under the management of government; the role of collective reverts under the supervision of farmers; the role of collective returns under its own strengthening of democracy.

Effects of Land Use on the Riparian Vegetation along the Njoro and Kamweti Rivers, Kenya

Riparian zones are valuable ecosystems. They act as the ecological engineers that improve river health by delivering a range of ecosystem functions. They play a significant role in river health and provide various ecosystem goods and services for human well-being. Currently, riparian areas are under threat due to intensive human activities such as agriculture and urbanization, which alter riparian ecosystem structure and composition. The main objective of this study was to determine the effect of adjacent land use on the structure and diversity of the riparian vegetation in the Njoro and Kamweti Rivers. Along each river, three sampling sites were selected within the major land use categories which were;forest, agricultural and built-up areas. At each site, three 70 m long transects were established perpendicular to the river. The three plots were systematically established, separated by a 5 m distance along each transect. Forest canopy cover was estimated in percentage. Njoro River riparian vegetation recorded a total of 145 plant species from 40 families where trees and shrubs were dominant in the forest area, and herbs dominated the agricultural and built-up areas. In Kamweti River riparian area, a total of 110 species from 45 families were encountered, in which trees dominated the forest area. A similar trend to the Njoro River was observed, in which herbs were dominant in the agricultural and built-up areas. In Njoro River, the Shannon diversity (H’) values ranged between 2.73 and 3.08 whereas Kamweti River riparian area values ranged from 2.59 to 3.40. At the level of P ≤ 0.05, T-Test revealed that there was no significant difference in plant abundance and diversity between the two rivers, with F = 0.53;P = 0.51 and F = 2.71;P = 0.17. Human-centered disturbances along the Njoro and Kamweti River riparian areas have affected the riparian vegetation as shown by the decrease in plant species diversities, and the change in vegetation composition and distribution across the land uses. Due to the present and probable future scenarios of the changes in riparian vegetation observed, there is a pressing need for an integrated approach for the management of riparian zones based on various components such as riparian condition assessment, policy framework, stakeholder’s participation, management practices, legislation, and awareness.

Radiometric Characteristics of the Landsat Collection 1 Dataset

This study evaluates the long-term radiometric performance of the USGS new released Landsat Collection 1 archive, including the absolute calibration of each Landsat sensor as well as the relative cross-calibration among the four most popular Landsat sensors. A total of 920 Landsat Collection 1 scenes were evaluated against the corresponding Pre-Collection images over a Pseudo-Invariant Site, Railroad Valley Playa Nevada, United States (RVPN). The radiometric performance of the six Landsat solar reflective bands, in terms of both Digital Numbers (DNs) and at-sensor Top of Atmosphere (TOA) reflectance, on the sensor cross-calibration was examined. Results show that absolute radiometric calibration at DNs level was applied to the Landsat-4 and -5 TM (L4 TM and L5 TM) by –1.119% to 0.126%. For L4 TM and L5 TM, the cross-calibration decreased the radiometric measurement level by rescaling at-sensor radiance to DN values. The radiometric changes, –0.77% for L4 TM, 0.95% for L5 TM, –0.26% for L7 ETM+, and –0.01% for L8 OLI, were detected during the cross-calibration stage of converting DNs into TOA reflectance. This study has also indicated that the long-term radiometric performance for the Landsat Collection 1 archive is promising. Supports of these conclusions were demonstrated through the time-series analysis based on the Landsat Collection 1 image stack. Nevertheless, the radiometric changes across the four Landsat sensors raised concerns of the previous Landsat Pre-Collection based results. We suggest that Landsat users should pay attention to differences in results from Pre-Collection and Collection 1 time-series data sets.

The Role of Land–sea Distribution and Orography in the Asian Monsoon. Part I: Land–sea Distribution

A number of AGCM simulations were performed by including various land–sea distributions （LSDs）, such as meridional LSDs, zonal LSDs, tropical large-scale LSDs, and subcontinental-scale LSDs, to identify their effects on the Asian monsoon. In seven meridional LSD experiments with the continent/ocean located to the north/south of a certain latitude, the LSDs remain identical except the southern coastline is varied from 40 ° to 4 ° N in intervals of 5.6° . In the experiments with the coastline located to the north of 21° N, no monsoon can be found in the subtropical zone. In contrast, a summer monsoon is simulated when the continent extends to the south of 21 ° N. Meanwhile, the earlier onset and stronger intensity of the tropical summer monsoon are simulated with the southward extension of the tropical continent. The effects of zonal LSDs were investigated by including the Pacific and Atlantic Ocean into the model based on the meridional LSD run with the coastline located at 21 °N. The results indicate that the presence of a mid-latitude zonal LSD induces a strong zonal pressure gradient between the continent and ocean, which in turn results in the formation of an East Asian subtropical monsoon. The comparison of simulations with and without the Indian Peninsula and Indo-China Peninsula reveals that the presence of two peninsulas remarkably strengthens the southwesterly winds over South Asia due to the tropical asymmetric heating between the tropical land and sea. The tropical zonal LSD plays a crucial role in the formation of cumulus convection.

Effects of restoration modes on the spatial distribution of soil physical properties after land consolidation: a multifractal analysis

Soil physical properties(SPP)are considered to be important indices that reflect soil structure,hydrological conditions and soil quality.It is of substantial interest to study the spatial distribution of SPP owing to the high spatial variability caused by land consolidation under various land restoration modes in excavated farmland in the loess hilly area of China.In our study,three land restoration modes were selected including natural restoration land(NR),alfalfa land(AL)and maize land(ML).Soil texture composition,including the contents of clay,silt and sand,field capacity(FC),saturated conductivity(Ks)and bulk density(BD)were determined using a multifractal analysis.SPP were found to possess variable characteristics,although land consolidation destroyed the soil structure and decreased the spatial autocorrelation.Furthermore,SPP varied with land restoration and could be illustrated by the multifractal parameters of D1,ΔD,ΔαandΔf in different modes of land restoration.Owing to multiple compaction from large machinery in the surface soil,soil particles were fine-grained and increased the spatial variability in soil texture composition under all the land restoration modes.Plough numbers and vegetative root characteristics had the most significant impacts on the improvement in SPP,which resulted in the best spatial distribution characteristics of SPP found in ML compared with those in AL and NR.In addition,compared with ML,Δαvalues of NR and AL were 4.9-and 3.0-fold that of FC,respectively,andΔαvalues of NR and AL were 2.3-and 1.5-fold higher than those of Ks,respectively.These results indicate that SPP can be rapidly improved by increasing plough numbers and planting vegetation types after land consolidation.Thus,we conclude that ML is an optimal land restoration mode that results in favorable conditions to rapidly improve SPP.

On the Distributive Justice of Land Added Value in the Process of Urban Expansion

It is an unarguable fact that the urban-rural dual structure led to two different results. On the one hand,it had been playing a great role in the city development and prosperity,and on the other hand,it had led the slow development of rural economy and the income gap between rural and urban areas. The government makes efforts to promote the process of urbanization to maintain the sustained development of China's economy and economic transformation which are the two needs of the Chinese reality. But in the top-level design of the policy,the government did not give a fair profits distribution to all social groups. On the contrary,the result of urban development is based on the expense of a part of the people's interests in exchange for the interests of another parts of the people,and especially on the government expropriation in the process of urban expansion. Under Land Administration Law of the People's Republic of China,the government monopolized the expropriation right of the rural land,and the rural collectives and farmers as the land owner and constructors respectively have no rights to decide the land use purposes. In fact,they are forced to accept the land compensation,and because of the little bargaining rights,they gain little from the land value increment. Comparatively,the governments became the biggest beneficiary who made use of the land as a source and capital to earn the achievement in their official career and more money required by the urban development. The paper mainly analyzes the current situation of the distribution of the land added value,elaborates the reasons why the government strives for the land interests,and discusses what farmers lose in the government expropriation. Last but not lest,the author reflects on the land reform and gives a proposal on distribution of land added value.

Study on the Construction of China's Unified Urban-rural Construction Land Market

State-owned urban construction land market in China has evolved and been improved gradually, but use system of rural collective construction land has lagged far behind, so the urban-rural construction land market in China has been split with a result that use effi ciency of land resources is poor and collective land property rights of peasants are damaged. On the basis of analyzing problems of the current construction land market and also the causes, modern land property theory and institutional change of neoinstitutional economics are applied to study dynamical mechanism and development path of the construction land market, to construct the unifi ed construction land market system of China, and to propose corresponding guarantee policies, so as to achieve the effective allocation of construction land and maximization of social welfare.

Spatial Pressure Distribution of Cultivated Land and the Analysis of Food Safety in Kunming City,China

The social and economical condition,cultivated land resources and general situation of grain production of research area are introduced.According to relevant data of cultivated land of Kunming City in 2006,taking the minimum per capita cultivated land and index model of cultivated land pressure,and combining with two conditions of per capita grain demand which are 300 kg and 400 kg,the comparative research method was used to calculate and analyze the minimum per capita cultivated land and index model of cultivated land pressure.The results show that when per capita grain demand-Gr is 300 kg,the per capita cultivated land in Kunming City has regional differences,reflects different regular patterns of spatial distribution,and presents obvious and typical radial distribution.Urban area of Kunming has the lowest point and be taken as the center,per capita cultivated land decreases progressively from suburban to the periphery;when per capita grain demand-Gr is 400 kg,under the same consumption level,cultivated land pressures of each county in Kunming City are different,and so are the driven factors;when per capita grain demand-Gr is 300 kg or 400 kg,the indexes of cultivated land pressure in Kunming are all greater than 1,cultivated land pressure is enormous,the indexes of cultivated land pressure of each county(district) have two conditions-greater than 1 and less than 2,and the reasons differ from one another.Combining with the spatial distribution characteristics of the cultivated land and food and the situation of industrial development,the countermeasures and suggestions are put forwarded to make full use of back-up cultivated land,to plan the distribution of industrial structure in each county(district) of Kunming City as a whole,to dispose cultivated land resources reasonably and so on.

An Analysis of the Factors that Affect Collective Construction Land Transfer Price: A Case Study of Yichang City

The transfer of the rural collective construction land is increasingly accelerating,and the factors affecting transfer price are manifold. In this paper,the research area is Yichang,and we establish hedonic price model to explore and analyze the factors which affect the collective construction land transfer price. The simulation results show that in geographical factors,the higher degree of prosperity,road accessibility and soundness of infrastructure will result in higher collective construction land transfer price; in economic factors,the higher farmers' per capita net income and added value of the village's tertiary industry will lead to higher collective construction land transfer price; in ownership factors,the integrity of usufruct,disposition and possession has increasingly significant impact on collective construction land transfer price. In the process of establishing rural collective construction land circulation market,the government should gradually improve conditions of collective construction land; strengthen the construction of the rural economy,improve the economic attribute of the collective construction land; establish and improve China's rural collective construction land-related laws and regulations,make the rural collective construction land use rights clear,and give the whole rights of occupation,use,earning and disposition.

Distribution of Value-added Income of Collective Construction Land Entering the Market Based on the Subject Input Contribution and TOPSIS

In order to promote the revitalization and development of rural areas and protect the property rights of farmers,it is necessary to explore the reasonable distribution ratio of land value-added income in collective operating construction land.Under the existing land value-added income distribution model,the land value-added income obtained by the government is much greater than that of village collectives,and it is difficult for village collectives and farmers to enjoy greater benefits.This distribution model is not conducive to protecting the property rights of farmers.The results show that there was a positive correlation between land value-added income and land level,that is,the higher the land level was,the higher the value-added income and its ratio to the market transaction price were.According to calculation,the reasonable distribution ratio of the value-added income of collective operating construction land entering the market among the government,village collectives and farmers was 28.6%,51.1%,and 20.3%respectively.The actual land value-added income obtained by farmers was greatly improved compared with the current situation.In actual operation,this distribution mode has universal applicability.The reform of entering the market in the future also needs to raise the standards for entering the market,explore diversified interest protection channels,and strengthen the construction of rural collective management system.

Study on the Spatial Distribution of Resource-based Urban Land Based on Suitability Evaluation——A Case Study of Datong City in Shanxi Province

[ Objective] The study aimed at analyzing the spatial distribution of urban land based on the suitability evaluation of construction land in a resource-based city. [Methed] Firstly, the suitability of construction land in the center of Datong City was assessed; afterwards, according to the urban scale and spatial expansion mode in target years in the General Land Use Planning for Datong City （2006 -2020）, the spatial layout of new- ly-increased urban land and flexible construction land was carried out to determine the development boundary of Datong City in 2020. [ Result] In the evaluation area of Datong City, the most suitable construction land had an area of only 66.18 hm2, accounting for 10.40% of total area of evalu- ation region; the area of more suitable construction land was 117.51 hm2 and make up 18.47% of total area; moderately suitable land covered an area of 149.49 hm2, which took up 23.49% of total area; the area of unsuitable construction land （89.31 hm2 ） only made up 14.04% of total area. In the newly-increased urban construction land, the area of the most suitable and more suitable land accounted for 73.58%, while there was no un- suitable land. Meanwhile, in flexible construction land, the area of the most suitable and more suitable land made up 66.85%. In a word, the spa- tial layout of urban land was reasonable in Datong City. [Conclusion] The research could provide theoretical references for the spatial expansion and layout of urban land.

Developing the Commons: Models of Rural Land Trust in China

In recent years,experiments on land trusts(xin tuo)have been made in the rural areas of China.To better understand such practice,this research identifies four case studies based on their operational structures and divides them into government-led models and market-led models.The government-led models include the Yiyang Model in Hunan Province,and the Longgang Model in Hubei Province.The market-led models include the Suzhou Model in Anhui Province,and the Golden Field Series Model in Jiangsu Province.This paper compares their profit-sharing mechanisms with specific attention given to the incentives for the villagers.Findings suggest that the villagers’profits are limited in both models.The government-led models concern less about profits but more on reusing the desolated agricultural land.The market-led models are profit-driven therefore tend to exclude the villagers from the profit-sharing process.

Variation of Zn content in soils under different land-use types in the Hetao oasis,Inner Mongolia of China

Understanding the status and distribution of the micronutrient Zn in soils is important for managing plant growth and preventing soil pollution for agricultural irrigation systems in arid and semi-arid regions. In this study, a total of 195 soil samples from five soil layers （0-20, 20-40, 40-60, 60-80 and 80-100 cm） in the three land-use types （wasteland, forestland and cropland） after long-term agricultural fertilization and irrigation with Yellow River water were collected in the middle of the Hetao oasis, i.e. the Yongji irrigation sub-oasis. We analyzed the vertical and spatial distributions of Zn content and its relationship with soil properties to determine whether differences of Zn content existed in the soil profiles. The results revealed that the mean content of Zn was 107 mg/kg, 1.9 times higher than the background value （55.7 mg/kg） of the Hetao oasis and much lower than the secondary standard value （300 mg/kg） of the Chinese Environmental Quality Standard for Soils when pH〉7.5. Soil Zn contents were not significantly different and the coefficients of variation of Zn contents were less than 50% in the five soil layers. Soil Zn content was similar from southern to northern parts but increased from western to eastern parts in the sub-oasis. Soil Zn contents did not differ significantly among the three land-use types, but soil total nitrogen （TN） contents were significantly higher in the agriculturally managed forestland and cropland than in the wasteland （P〈0.05）. Zn was significantly and positively correlated with TN （F=36.6, P〈0.001）. The use of fertilizers may increase the content of Zn in soils, but flooding irrigation may minimize the differences in the spatial distribution of soil Zn content in the whole sub-oasis. This research is of important value for soil pollution control and sustainable land use management in arid and semi-arid regions.