Abstract: The water ecological functional zoning for lakes is the development and application of geological zoning in the field of ecological environment.With the DEM(Digital Elevation Model) of watershed as a basis,the natural hydrological units and water systems of the target basin can be divided via hydrological analysis,and then the water ecological functional zoning can be determined in association with comprehensive investigation data of the basin.In this research,the maps of seven major rivers in the Qinghai Lake basin were processed by using GIS technology into grid maps of the same grid units.Such maps cover the water system,DEM,total value of ecosystem services,normalized difference vegetation index(NDVI),and land use types.The spatial autocorrelation distance of each index element was calculated using GS + software so as to obtain the dominant indices and impact factors of first-level and secondary zones of water ecological function in the Qinghai Lake basin.The grid maps of selected indicators were processed by the spatial overlay of ArcGIS 10.0 software to modify the boundaries of the zones.Finally we determined eight first-level water ecological functional zones and 27 secondary zones in the Qinghai Lake basin.The zoning of the primary and secondary water ecological functions is helpful to enrich the study of the differentiation of the Qinghai Lake basin and provide theoretical and methodological guidance for the construction of Qinghai Lake National Park.

Key words: water ecological function zoning, GS+, ArcGIS, Qinghai Lake watershed