Abstract: This paper aims to investigate the heavy metal pollution in the soil at a large coal chemical industry area in northwest China,and perform the source apportionment of the pollution.Soil samples,raw coal and coal ash samples were taken from that area and were analysed with ICP-MS and cold atomic absorption method after digestion for determining 8 heavy metal elements including Cr,Cd,As,Pb,Ni,Se and Hg.Enrichment factor method,correlation coefficient analysis,cluster analysis and factor analysis method were used to evaluate the pollution and analyse the sources.Results indicated that the Cr,As,Se,Ag,and Cd were from the anthropogenic activity,and there were three main sources of pollution according to the data field model and the migration regularity of heavy metals in soil,coal and coal ash.Among the three pollution sources,coal gasification pollution was primarily loaded with Se,Cd,and Pb; slag field dust was mainly loaded with Cr,Hg and Ag; other external sources such as from traffic were mainly loaded with As,and Ni.The three sources contributed 32.01%,23.89% and 19.61% to the heavy metal pollution in the soil,respectively.