Abstract: With the wide application of rare earth elements (REEs) in modern industry, medical field, more and more are brought into the natural water environment, has been considered as a potential emerging micro-pollutants. Taking Guiyang city as the research object, this study analyzed the contents of REEs, the Post Archean Australian Shale （PAAS） standardized distribution pattern and characteristics of anthropogenic REEs in groundwater samples. The results show that the ∑REE scontent in groundwater in Guiyang City is 6.9-155.5  ng/L, with an average of 24.7  ng/L. The overall performance is that the medium and heavy REEs are enriched relative to the light REEs and have obvious negative Ce anomalies and positive Eu anomalies. Positive Gd anomalies were found in groundwater in all regions of Guiyang. The Gd anomalies in the urban center area with dense population and strong human activities were generally higher, while the Gd anomalies in the area with relatively small population and less human disturbance factors were relatively low. The proportion of anthropogenic Gd is between 7.4%-96.0%. The high proportion of anthropogenic Gd reflects that karst groundwater is affected by more intense surface domestic wastewater and medical wastewater. This study shows that anthropogenic Gd has good application potential in karst groundwater pollution tracing.