Abstract:In this paper, in order to assess soil health and soil properties in local farmlands, the profile distribution characteristics of heavy metal and mineral element contents in soil of dry farmlands in the gully area of the Loess Plateau were studied. The monitored area included two kinds of soils: black loessial soil and loessial soil. The black loessial soil locates on the table-land terrain. No fertilizer monitoring area (CK), chemical fertilizer monitoring area (HF), inorganic and organic fertilizer monitoring area (NPM) and farmland monitoring area (NM) were set up according to fertilizer management. The loessial soil locates on the terrace, and the fertilization management was the same as HF. For the black loessial soil, the results showed that the contents of Cd in top layer and middle layers were higher than that of bottom layer; the contents of Pb, Cr, Ni and As were increased with the increase of depth in CK treatment. The concentrations of Pb, Cr and Ni in HF treatment were accumulated in the profile bottom. The content of Cd was decreased with the increase of depth in NPM treatment, and the contents of Pb, Cr, Ni and As were accumulated in the deep layers. For NM treatment, Cd and Cr were higher in the bottom profile, while Ni and Hg were higher in top layer. For loessial soil, the content of Cd was higher in top layer and the middle layers. The contents of Cr, Ni, Hg and As changed little in the profile and the contents of heavy metals in this soil were lower than those in the black loessial soil. The contents of Cd, Pb, Cr and Hg in 0-100 cm soil profile of each fertilization monitored area were not exceed the values of the 1st grade standard of soil environment quality, but the contents of As in 60-100 cm layer in CK monitored area and HF monitored area, 10-20 cm and 60-100 cm layers in NPM monitored area were exceeded the standard value. For NM monitored area, the content of Cd was slightly higher than those of other fertilization monitored areas, and the other heavy metal elements were relatively low. It indicated that the current fertilization in the study area does not cause soil heavy metal pollution and soil health status was well. The profile distributions of heavy metal contents in loessial soil were all smaller than the 1st grade standard of soil environment quality, and soil health was well too. The total mineral content of soil in this study area were in order of SiO2>Al2O3>CaO≈Fe2O3>K2O≈MgO>Na2O>TiO2>P2O5> MnO. Soil weathering indexes indicated that soils in the study area were developed maturely and had good tillage.