Understanding spatial variability of hazardous soil heavy metals is an important precondition for suitably monitoring and evaluating eco-environment quality in the primary agricultural production zone. One hundred topsoils were sampled from the urban-rural transition zone in Taihang Piedmont Plain, China. The contents of eight heavy metals Cu, Zn, Cr, Ni, Pb, Cd, Hg and As were tested for each soil sample, and their spatial patterns were analyzed by the semivariogram approach of geostatistics and geographical information system (GIS) technology. Results showed that Cd concentration exceeded its background level. The local pollution from Cd attributed to the anthropogenic influence. The concentrations of eight hazardous heavy metals are relatively lower than the critical values of the national soil quality standard. The correlation distance of soil heavy metals ranged from 3.28 to 11.63 km, with the eight heavy metals having moderate spatial dependence. Cu, Cr, Ni, Pb and As are associated with and controlled by parent material. The results are helpful for improving agricultural and forest ecosystem in the and and semiarid region. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.