There are abundant vanadium ores in the Cam-brian strata in southern Shaanxi,China.Many years of mining activities and surface leaching have polluted the surface water to a certain extent,but the researches on the water quality characteristics and pollution degree are rel-atively weak.This contribution was organized to investi-gate the surface water quality by general parameters,including TDS,Eh,pH,DO,TOC,COD,and EC,in the vanadium ore belt (Yinhua River basin).Major ions were determined to detect the water type and natural chemical weathering,while trace elements were used to illustrate their geochemical characteristics and ecological risk assessment of heavy metals.The study found that the surface water was weakly alkaline and mainly dominated from normal to pool grade.The particle size with 1000-10,000 nm of suspended particles was the main carrier of organic matter.The concentration of HCO3-and SO42-in the anions and Ca2+ and Mg2+ ions in the cations were relatively high,and the water type was Ca-Mg-HCO3-SO4 type.Rock weathering had a great influence on surface water,and the weathering products were mainly silicate and carbonate.Compared with the Type river,the contents of V elements showed an obvious positive anomaly,which may be affected by mining activities of vanadium ore and the annual leaching of the tailings pond.As and Cd in the surface water was polluted seriously.The integrated pol-lution index suggested that the surface water pollution was serious,and the main stream was more serious with the increasing tailings ponds.