Understanding the spatial distribution of soil organic matter (SOM) and soil nutrients is important for refining agricultural management practices and for improving sustainable land use Due to serious soil erosion and nutrient losses on the Loess Plateau, many researchers have studied the mechanism of soil nutrient loss and how to control soil nutrient loss, and nutrients in relation to land use and landscape position, and others have explored the distribution of soil nutrients described by classical statistical methods However, there is little information on spatial distribution patterns of soil nutrients using GIS and geostatistics in this area In this paper, based on spatial dependence of SOM, total N (TN), total P (TP), available N (AN) and available P (AP) through semivariogram of geostatistics, their distribution patterns using Kriging are explored in Danangou catchment The results are as follows: (1) Distribution pattern of SOM content exhibited its value in the upper slope less than that of the foot slope The area with SOM value less than 0 5% occupied the biggest proportion which mainly occurred in the farmland,
and the scope with the value more than 0 6% had the smallest area where existed intercropping land and woodland (2)Spatial distribution of TN showed similar pattern to that of SOM, while the distribution of its value at the foot slope higher than the upper slope became more clear In addition, lower content (<0 035%)had the biggest connected area because of easy loss of N element (3) The areas with different TP contents (<0 056%, 0 056～0 059%, 0 059～0 062% and >0 062%) had almost equal proportion, because they tended to be controlled by soil parent materials and existed mostly in stable form in soil (4) Compared with SOM, TN and TP, AN and AP did not indicate the increasing value from the upper slope to the foot slope controlled by land use and landscape position, because of AP and AN direct absorption by plants and easy loss with soil and runoff The spatial pattern of AP was more complicated than that of AN