Based on the application of GIS and traditional statistical methods

this paper studied the spatial distribution feature of soil nutrient contents and their relations to land use in a small watershed

which located in the Ziyang County

Sichuan Province. The results showed that soil total nitrogen and organic matter for the upland

orchard and bare land in interested area were widely deficient

especially for the bare land on the top and steep slope of hill. We should pay more attention to this kind of land use in the future. Moreover

the high value distribution areas for the soluble nutrients in the upland and orchard should also be more cared. And remarkable spatial distributions with the feature of stripe and patch were also found for all nutrients. The spatial heterogeneity of most soil nutrients except for total potassium and nitrate was significantly influenced by the land use. The rank of the influenced nutrients was as follows: organic matter>total nitrogen>total phosphorus> soluble phosphorus. Generally speaking

the total potassium with lesser coefficient of variability mainly inherited the quality of material rock. However

more important factors (e.g. fertilizer

rainfall and runoff) may control the content of nitrate

as a result

there no existed significant relationship between land use and nitrate.