The corrosion behavior of pure magnesium was investigated by means of cathodic polarization curve, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and electrochemical noise (EN) under aerated and deaerated thin electrolyte layers (TEL) with various thicknesses. Based on shot noise theory and stochastic theory, the EN results were quantitatively analyzed by using the Weibull and Gumbel distribution function, respectively. The results show that the cathodic process of pure magnesium under thin electrolyte layer was dominated by hydrogen reduction. With the decreasing of thin electrolyte layer thickness, cathodic process was retarded slightly while the anodic process was inhibited significantly, which indicated that both the cathodic and anodic process were inhibited in the presence of oxygen. The absence of oxygen decreased the corrosion resistance of pure magnesium in case of thin electrolyte layer. The corrosion was more localized under thin electrolyte layer than that in bulk solution. The results also demonstrate that there exist two kinds of effects for thin electrolyte layer on the corrosion behavior of pure magnesium: (I) the rate of pit initiation was evidently retarded compared to that in bulk solution; (2) the probability of pit growth oppositely increased. The corrosion model of pure magnesium under thin electrolyte layer was suggested in the paper. (c) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.