Abstract:A laboratory experiment was conducted to determine the effect of temperature and moisture on N2O flux from a loess-derived agricultural soil. A mechanism explaining the effect of temperature on N2O flux was proposed based on kinetic theory of chemical reactions. Results showed that under normal temperature, N2O flux increased as temperature increased. When soil water content was 14.50% w/w, N2O flux was highest between 20-25℃. In contrast, N2O flux was highest between 15-20℃ when soil water content was 18.70%w/w and between 25-30℃ when soil water content was 22%w/w. Thus, soil water content influenced the effect of temperature on soil N2O flux. Curves showing accumulated N2O flux across time were described by the revised Elovich equation y=a+blnt. The apparent reaction rate b was used to verify the existence of elevated N2O flux under certain temperature conditions from a kinetic view point. Within the same soil moisture treatment, N2O flux was a maximum at T0. Soil N2O flux increased as temperature increased in the area from T1-T0. In contrast, soil N2O flux decreased as temperature rose in the area from T0-T2. In this loess-derived soil, the turning point (T0) occurred at approximately 30℃.In addition, we observed that N2O was weakly absorbed when soil water content was 7.86% w/w.