Abstract: This paper studies soil degradation characteristics of floodplain wetlands in Yellow River source zone by its geographical terrain and soil indicators. The results showed that soil pH value was more than 7 at all degradation stages, and pH value decreased significantly with the increase of degradation degree. Soil water content and grass-soil ratio decreased gradually with the increase of degradation degree. The soil of floodplain wetland was loose loam, and the clay content of soil with the size less than 0.01 mm decreased with the increase of degradation degree. The main nutrient content in upper layer was higher than that of lower layer in vertical, soil organic matter and total nitrogen (TN) showed a decreasing trend with the increase of degradation degree. The content of TN, total potassium (TK) and organic matter at stage 5 were significantly different (P＜ 0.05) from that at previous four stages and they were not significantly different at stages 1, 2, 3 and 4. TN content at stage 2 was significantly different (P＜0.05) from that at stage 5, while it was not significantly different at stages 1, 3 and 4. The content of total phosphorus (TP), available P and available K were not significantly different, available P showed a decreasing trend while TP and available K showed an increasing trend with the increase of degradation trend,