Retarding factors of copper movement in sandy loam, silty clay and loamy sand were determined in an experiment of isothermal static equilibrium adsorption and calculated by using the deterministic convection-dispersion equation and deterministic two region nonequilibrium convection-dispersion equation coupled with the outflowing dynamics of copper ions and tracer ions measured in a miscible displacement experiment.The results indicate that the Langmuir linear isothermal adsorption could accurately describe adsorption behavior of copper;and that retarding factors calculated were close to measured values.In addition, to determine retarding factors, the method of using the miscible displacement experiments coupled with the convection-dispersion equation was both time-consuming and low in accuracy.