Abstract: Under the high-intensity disturbance of human activities such as resource development and land use, landscape patterns and topography are substantially altered, thereby influencing surface hydrological connectivity and processes among ecological units. To quantitatively characterize how landscape-pattern change affects the soil-water storage and surface-runoff recharge capacity of watershed ecological units, and to describe ecological linkages among units, core concepts from hydrology and landscape ecology are integrated. Following the principles of surface-runoff processes and drawing on the gravity model, a novel surface hydrological linkage index is proposed. The index comprises two components: (1) a linkage term representing surface-runoff convergence and soil water-holding potential (captured by the soil topographic index), and (2) a resistance term describing impedance along runoff pathways between ecological units; the linkage and resistance terms are expressed as proportional components. Strong indicative capability is demonstrated for shifts in surface hydrological processes induced by landscape-pattern alteration. Relative to commonly used landscape metrics (e.g., patch density and aggregation index), a clearer physical-process basis and a spatially distributed representation are provided. Using a large open-pit coal mine in a semi-arid region as a case example, spatial heterogeneity of the index is examined before and after mining. Increased heterogeneity is revealed within the mining-affected area, with pronounced weakening over waste dumps and marked enhancement within the open pit. Effects on surrounding areas are shown to be primarily controlled by dominant topographic runoff pathways, rather than exhibiting a uniform distance-decay pattern with equal-radius diffusion from the pit or dumps. The index is therefore suited for spatial analysis of surface soil-water redistribution and associated ecological effects under landscape-pattern and topographic change at watershed and landscape scales.