Alpine meadow soil is widely spread in tha South Qinghai Plateau and partly distributed in Haibei,Hainan and Huangnan regions on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.Alpine meadow soil,being the principal soil of the range is situated in the regions of 4,000-4,700 metres above sea level on the South Qinghai Plateau,and 3,300-4,000 metres in other regions respectively.It develops under the conditions of cold semihumid mountainous climate with mean annual air temperature of 0-5.7℃ and precipitation of 270-550 mm.Its predominant vegetative cover is Kobresia pygmaea.Such distribution may be considered as a result of the influence by the combined actions of horizontal and vertical zonality.