Abstract:Soil moisture is a key factor for water circulation, groundwater supply, and vegetation restoration in the loess alpine region. Based on geostatistics, the spatial distribution of soil moisture and its profit and loss are studied to reveal the spatial distribution law, variation characteristics, and the spatial structure of soil moisture in forestland, which is of great value for regional vegetation restoration. In this study, the artificial forest land in the Anmentan watershed of Datong County was selected. The soil water storage, forest water consumption, and soil water profit and loss in May, July, and September were comprehensively analyzed by the geostatistical method. The results showed that:(1) the overall performance of soil moisture was in order of September > May > July, while the water consumption of woodland was in order of July > September > May. The soil moisture of most of woodland in May-July was in a loss state. The soil moisture of all woodland in July-September was supplemented. There was a surplus of the soil moisture in most woodlands in the study area in May-September. The exponential model could be used as a optimal theoretical variation function model in soil water storage, woodland water consumption, and soil moisture surplus and loss. (2) In May, July and September, the soil water storage capacity was generally higher in the south and the west, but lower in the north and the east. The variation in the southwest-northeast direction was more intense than that of the southeast-northwest direction. The water consumption of forest land in each month was more intense in the southwest-northeast direction than in the southeast-northwest direction, and its overall performance in the southwest is lower than that in the northeast. In three periods of May-July, July-September, and May-September, the value of soil water surplus and loss showed the characteristics of the northeast region smaller than the southwest region. In summary, the local soil water status does not exactly match the water consumption distribution pattern of the forest land. Although most of the forest stands can maintain the balance of soil moisture, some Populus cathayana forests at the foot of the mountain and Larix principis-rupprechtii forests in the central region had a phenomenon of soil moisture loss. In order to prevent the deterioration of the water environment of woodland, the stand allocation should be adjusted appropriately in the process of vegetation construction in the loess alpine area after that.