In the Araripe Gypsum District (AGD), Brazil, there is concern that forest degradation processes that have occurred in the region have affected the soils currently in use. This stimulated interest in comparing soil quality to evaluate environmental and production sustainability in native species, eucalyptus forest and food plant production. The present study aimed to develop a soil quality index (SQI) for physical indicators of Oxisols under different land uses associated with the AGD. Four sites were selected: Preserved Caatinga (PC), Degraded Caatinga (DC), Eucalyptus (EUCA) and Cassava monoculture (CAS), evaluated in 0−10 cm and 10−20 cm soil depths. Twenty physical soil attributes obtained from the evaluated areas were submitted to Lilliefors normality test, double-variance analysis, multicollinearity test and principal component analysis (PCA) to select appropriate indicators and as a method for extracting weighting factors. The results showed that 84 % and 79 % of the total variance were explained by two principal components (PCs) at 0−10 and 10−20 cm depths, respectively. The attributes that made up the SQI in 0−10 and 10−20 cm depths were: bulk density (BD), macroporosity (Macro), mesoporosity (Meso), structural-biological microporosity (MicroSB), textural microporosity (MicroT), saturated hydraulic conductivity (KS), soil penetration resistance (PR; 60 and 333 hPa); total porosity (TP), Meso, stable aggregates index (SAIW), KS, PR10, PR800 and PR3000, respectively. Among the management systems, the best SQI scores were in 0−10 cm (PC: 0.85 ± 0.01) and 10−20 cm (EUCA: 0.93 ± 0.01) depths. BD and TP were considered the main parameters of soil quality, as well as Meso and KS, as they are present in the SQI at both depths and perform functions essential to the development of plant species. Results for the AGD suggest that the eucalyptus cultivation system can be implemented to supply energetic needs of calcinators in the AGD, representing an environmentally viable alternative. However, results strongly suggest that the Caatinga preservation still reflects the best soil quality.