Abstract:The clay mineral composition, canon exchange capacity, the quantity of charge and phosphorus adsorption of 21 soil layers from five soil profiles at different altitudes of the Mufu Mountain were measured. The results indicated that with the increase of the altitude, the type of layer silicates varied, and the contents of the active iron and aluminum oxides and organic matter were raised. As a result, the surface properties and anion adsorption changed correspondingly. These changes involved the increase of CEC and AEC, the strengthening of variable charge characteristic, the increase of phosphorus sorption capacity and the decreasing of phosphorus desorption ratio.