Abstract: Effects of drip irrigation were studied on redistribution of soil water and salt in the soils under young forest stands at the fringes of an oasis and a desert in the lower reaches of the Tarim River.Results show that after 24 hours the soil water content decreased horizontally with increasing in distance from the nozzle and reached the lowest at the distance of 75 cm,but increased vertically with depth of the profile and peaked at 75 cm.Vertically along the profile both soil moisture and salt contents were high at 20-40 cm,and tended to decline with the depth,while horizontally,the relativity between the soil moisture content at Point 0 and those at others declined in a proper order while the relativity between the soil salt content at Point 75 cm and those at others increased in a proper order.Vertically,the moisture content in 20-40 cm layer was significantly correlated with that in 0-20 cm layer with P<0.01,and then with that in 40-60 cm layer with P<0.05.

Key words: young forest stands, drip irrigation, moisture content, salt content, redistribution, lower reaches of Tarim River