The seasonal freeze–thaw process affects soil water migration, which influence spring planting, especially in arid and semi-arid regions that cannot be irrigated on the Loess Plateau. This study was conducted to evaluate differences in the freeze–thaw process and water migration between dam farmland (DF) and slope farmland (SF). To accomplish this, two typical agricultural soils (DF and SF), soil water content (SWC) and soil temperature (ST) were monitored at different depths (15, 30, 60 and 90 cm), were investigated under freeze–thaw conditions from November 2015 to April 2016 in the Northwest China. The results showed that different freeze-thaw process between dam farmland (DF) and slope farmland (SF). The DF can keep soil water content resulting from longer frozen period. Thermal transmission between soil and air in SF is greater than that in DF. The SWC values in DF were higher than in SF at each depth layer under similar soil temperature. Migrated and incremental SWC in the DF is greater than that in SF during the freeze-thaw process. The initial SWC is the main impact on freeze–thaw process in this study. This research can provide useful information to guide the water management of seasonally frozen agricultural soil.

季节性的冻融过程会影响土壤水分的迁移，从而影响春季播种，尤其是在黄土高原无法灌溉的干旱和半干旱地区。这项研究的目的是评估大坝农田（DF）和坡耕地（SF）之间的冻融过程和水分迁移的差异。为了做到这一点，在不同的深度（15、30、60和90 cm）对两种典型的农业土壤（DF和SF），土壤水分（SWC）和土壤温度（ST）进行了监测，并在冻融条件下进行了研究。 2015年11月至2016年4月在中​​国西北地区。结果表明，大坝农田（DF）和坡耕地（SF）的冻融过程不同。DF可以保持较长的冷冻时间，从而保持土壤水分。SF中土壤与空气之间的热传递大于DF中。在相似的土壤温度下，在每个深度层中，DF中的SWC值均高于SF中的SWC值。在冻融过程中，DF中的迁移和增量SWC大于SF中的迁移和增量。在本研究中，初始SWC是对冻融过程的主要影响。该研究可为指导季节性冻结的农业土壤的水管理提供有用的信息。