Abstract: In this study, the concentrations and species of heavy metals in soil profiles of paddy fields in Chang-Zhu-Tan region in Hunan province, China were investigated. The soil profiles represented typical polluted areas in this region affected by manure application, biogas slurry irrigation, lead-zinc mining, and industrial activities. Single factor pollution index and combined pollution index were used to evaluate the pollution status. Based on the speciation characteristics of heavy metals in the soil profiles of known pollution sources, the possible major sources of pollution were identified for the areas where the sources were still unknown. The results show that: (1) In the surface soils (0-10 cm), the average contents of Cd, Pb, Cu, Zn, Cr and Ni were 0.8, 54.5, 43.6, 158.6, 106.2 and 23.3 mg/kg, respectively. Compared with the background values in the Chang-Zhu-Tan region, there was obvious accumulation of Cd, Pb and Zn in the surface soil. The average content of Cd exceeded the risk screening values of Soil Environmental Quality Standards for Agricultural Soils (GB 15618-2018). The accumulation of Cd, Pb, Zn and Cr extended to subsurface soils (10-20 cm), and the average content of Cd, Pb, Zn and Cr was 6.9%, 19.8%, 101.4% and 67.0% higher than the local soil background values, respectively. Accumulation of Zn and Cr reached deeper layers than other metals. In deep soils (80-100 cm), the average content of Zn reached 78.7 and 96.3 mg/kg, which were 30.4% and 48.4% higher than the background value, respectively. (2) The high values of the single factor pollution index of Cd and Pb were mainly found in the surface soils, which indicated mild or slight Cd accumulation, and moderate accumulation in a few cases; Zn showed mainly mild and moderate accumulations, with small amount of heavy accumulation. The combined pollution index showed that the surface soils in the study area were basically moderately or heavily accumulated. (3) There was a significant correlation between the TOC content and the oxidizable Cu and Zn contents in the soil profiles in the manure application and biogas slurry irrigated areas. The contents of exchangeable Pb, Cd and Zn were significantly correlated in the soil profiles near the lead-zinc contaminated areas. However, in industrial polluted areas, only exchangeable Pb and Cd contents showed significant correlation. The current study showed that the differences in pollution sources resulted in different accumulation characteristics of heavy metal and different correlations among fractions of heavy metals in the paddy soils of the Chang-Zhu-Tan area. Thus, the main pollution sources of heavy metals in the agricultural soils could be evaluated through the heavy metal accumulation characteristics, their speciation and correlations. These results provide a theoretical basis for the pollution prevention and control from the sources.