The study on characteristics of water conduction in gravelly soil is beneficial to modelling water movement in this porous type of medium. Saturated hydraulic conductivities and soil water characteristic curves of two soil samples，loam and clay loam，separately and three types of mixtures of fine earth and rock fragments，2～10 mm in particle size and different in lithologic characteristics，were measured in lab with the indoor constant water head method and centrifuging method. Unsaturated hydraulic conductivities of the mixtures were calculated using the van Genuchten. Mualem model，and effect of gravels on soil water transmitting ability was analyzed. Results show that introduction of gravels low in weathering degree into the clay loam significantly increased saturated hydraulic conductivity of the soil，and the higher the introduction rate，the more significant the effect. However，the introduction of gravels high in weathering degree did not improve much its soil structure，and rather decreased its saturated hydraulic conductivity. The unsaturated hydraulic conductivity of the medium of gravels low in weathering degree increased first with rising soil water suction and got over that of the soil-rock fragment mixtures and soils，and then dropped promptly down below that of the two groups of media. When soil water suction was near zero，the unsaturated hydraulic conductivity of soil-rock fragment mixtures high in gravel content was higher，whereas when soil water suction was great，the unsaturated hydraulic conductivity of the mixtures decreased with increasing gravel content in the soil. The findings may serve as reference to the study on water balance in gravelly soil.