Soil cracking is a complicated process,which has great influence on soil properties,vegetation growth and soil solute transportation.The present paper gives an introduction to the indicator systems and indicator measurements in use for soil cracking home and abroad,and the latest advances in the study on relationships of soil cracking with soil properties,vegetation growth,soil infiltration and solute transportation.And on such a basis,suggestions are made for directions and key fields of future research on soil cracking in China.