Despite the wide variety of soil cover of the irrigated areas of the Republic, the problem of establishing regional background levels of heavy metals and other pollutants in the irrigated soils remains unresolved. The study and systematization of data on heavy metals in irrigated soils at the regional level is very relevant and necessary for assessing the resilience and stability of irrigated ecosystems to global and regional anthropogenic impacts. In this regard, the content of total and mobile forms of heavy metals in the irrigated soils of the South Kazakhstan region (on the example of the Shaulder Irrigation Massif) was investigated. The study determined the percentage of total forms of Zn (44.6%), Ni (28.9%), Cu (16.3%), Pb (8.6%), Cd (1.7%) and mobile forms of Ni (43.4%), Pb (21.7%), Zn (17.7%), Cu (10.3%) and Cd (6.9%). Consequently, the process of irrigation of these soils leads to an increase in the mobile forms Cd, Pb, and especially Ni, and the proportion of the mobile forms Cu and Zn decreases. By statistical processing of the obtained analytical data (n = 348) the concentrations of the studied heavy metals (mg/kg) in soil of the area were determined: Zn – 3.4 ± 0.05; Cu - 1.7 ± 0.02; Pb - 4.7 ± 0.10; Cd – 1.3 ± 0.01; Ni - 8.4 ± 0.12. These values are proposed by us for adoption as background levels of heavy metals in the studied soils and will be used in monitoring the soil of the Shaulder Irrigation Massif.

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