Abstract: Utilizing 208 surface soil samples collected from the coastal wetlands of Yellow River delta in 2006—2008, the authors studied REE distribution characteristics in wetlands covered by different kinds of vegetation and measured 14 kinds of elements in each sample by ICP-MS method. Some conclusions have been reached: ΣREE content in surface soil of wetlands in upper delta plain is 137.29×10? 6-267.82×10? 6, with an average of 166.73×10? 6; the REE distribution characteristics in sea-blite wetlands are similar to those in bare wetlands; the REE distribution characteristics in reed wetlands are similar to those of China's Tamarisk wetlands, but both of them are lower than the REE distribution characteristics in sea-blite and bare wetlands; the ΣREE content of the surface sediments of wetlands in shallow sea is 143.11×10?6-222.48×10?6, with an average of 180.80×10?6; the distribution curve of REE of wetlands in upper delta plain of the Yellow River is higher than that in shallow sea of the Yellow River; the distribution curve of REE of wetlands in shallow sea of the Yellow River is higher than that in sediments of the Yellow River. LREE has more possibility to participate in the circulation of biogeochemistry than HREE.