In the southern margin of permafrost zone of the Eurasian continent， permafrost in the Greater Khingan Mountains is greatly sensitive to local factors such as vegetation and moisture for its formation， development and preservation. In order to reveal the specific features of permafrost in these areas， drilling， ground penetrating radar （GPR） and long-term monitoring of permafrost temperature were conducted in Xinlin forest area on eastern slope of the Greater Khingan Mountains. In the Greater Khingan Mountains， the active layer thickness （ALT） is significantly affected by vegetation type and grazing intensity. The ALT reaches 2.5 m at severe grazing plots， but shrinks to 1.5 m at light and non-grazing grazing plots. The ground temperature at the depth of 2.0 m was 0.04 ℃ at Carax tato zone in November 2013， and began to recover gradually after grazing termination and the Gammu Highway diversion， from -0.12 ℃ to -0.69 ℃. Meanwhile， the ground temperature at the depth of 1.5 m was reduced from 0.17 ℃ to -0.42 ℃. Thus the ALT was less than 1.5 m at Carax tato zone. Changing with vegetation type， the annual ALT was 0.8 m， 1.3 m and 0.7 m， respectively， at larch forest zone， Carax tato zone and shrub zone. The annual average temperature at 11m depth were -1.34， -0.98 and -2.19 ℃ for the three ground surfaces. According to the profiles of ground temperature， the geothermal profiles belonged to the positive gradient type， indicating a relatively stable permafrost at shrub zone. However， it is more complicated at larch forest plot with negative - zero - positive gradient type geothermal curve and Carax tato zone with negative - twist type geothermal curve. Permafrost thickness in larch forest， Carax tato zone and shrub zone is 63.8 m， 60.3 m and 84.6 m， respectively. Because of the combined effect of vegetation and human activities， permafrost in the study area experienced a slight degradation， degradation of termination due to disturbance removal and gradual recovery.

Keywords： Greater Khingan Mountains ; permafrost temperature ; grazing ; permafrost degradation ; ground temperature profile