Abstract: According to the data of second soil survey in 1980 and the soil nutrient measurement in 2006, distribution maps of the nutrients content and the temporal had been drawn and spatial variability of soil nutrients were studied by using Arc GIS technique combined with geostatistics for Minqin county,Gansu Province.The results showed that the soil organic matter,available P and alkali-hydrolyzed increased by 11.1%,12.7%,1.02%, respectively and the available K decreased by 27.4%between 1980 and 2006. The temporal variation mainly contributed to people factors. However, the factors effecting spatial variation were different.To be specific, the content of available K and alkali-hydrolyzed were mainly influenced by the soil parent material and the people factors, respectively. And the content of soil organic matter and available P were a common results induced by structure and multi-people-factors including fertilization, tillage,planting and irrigation.