Abstract: The spatial distribution of soil moisture content is complex in the Horqin Sandy Land with dunemeadow landscape features, because of various landforms and different types of land use. The statistic theory and methods were used to study the spatial variation and distribution of soil moisture content through careful investigation, sampling and test analysis. The results showed that, at horizontal direction of the study area, soil moisture content in meadows was much higher than that in sand dunes. As for the meadows, the better the vegetation grew, the higher the soil moisture content and water retention capacity would be. It was contrary in the areas with sand dunes, soil moisture content and soil water retention in mobile dunes covered by sparse vegetation was higher than that in semi-fixed and semi-mobile dunes or fixed dunes. Vertically, there was a high fluctuation of soil moisture content in soil layer of 0-40 cm in depth in meadows with high and low vegetation coverage or in cropland, and soil moisture content in soil layer of 40-160 cm in depth was increased with the increase of soil depth. Soil moisture content was slightly increased with the increase of soil depth in mobile dunes, semi-mobile dunes and fixed dunes. In woodland, fallow land and cropland (in sandy land), the variation of soil moisture content was moderate. Spatially, soil moisture content was high in the central and eastern parts of the study area and decreased southward and northward.

Key words: land use, soil moisture content, spatial variation, dune-meadow ecotone, Horqin Sandy Land