Riparian soil samples were collected from forest dominated Jinshui River basin,a tributary of the upper Hanjiang River,to determine the total contents of several heavy metals in soil and the ion contents in soil water solution.Pollution index and ecological risk index were used to evaluate the riparian soils heavy metals pollution.Within the basin,riparian soils heavy metals pollution was from the heavy metal elements remain after constant element migration.The heavy metal compounds changed into ions activated by the surface thermal environment,which is the mechanism of surface soil heavy metal accumulation.