Abstract:Ten sampling sites were set in the various districts of Kaifeng City. Surface soil samples (0~15 cm) were collected from these sites in 1994 and 2006, separately. The samples were analyzed with a GF-AAS (graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrophotometer) for concentrations of Pb and Cd, CAAS (cold atomic absorption spectrophotometer) for Hg, and SDS (silver diethyldithiocarbamate spectrophotometer) for As. Heavy metal pollution of the soil was evaluated using geoaccumulation indexes. It was found that Cd and Hg accumulated significantly in the soil, becoming the main pollutants, and the former came mainly from the refuses discharged from Zinc Mill of Kaifeng and some other chemical factories, and the latter from coal combustion. Heavy metal pollution of the soil tended to be more severe in degree after the soil was turned from farmland into the urban lands, and could be effectively mitigated when land use of the urban soils was reduced in intensity and managed better. Change of the servitude of the same piece of land might also lead to variation of the heavy metal pollution of the soil in degree. Along with the rapid economic growth characterized by increasing GDP per capita, population density, coal wastage, quantity of civil automobiles, and tourist quantity, etc. from 1994 to 2006, soil pollution with heavy metals in Kaifeng City become heavier with the geoaccumulation index increased from 0.98 to 1.13.