Spatial and temporal variability of soil basic properties in typical areas of southern Jiangsu province is studied.The following conclusions are obtained.（1） Compared to the second soil survey of China（1980）,soil acidification is severe;soil average pH value of the upper layer declines from 7.20 to 6.42,pH value of 36.51% of the samples is less than 6.0,and that of 6.35% is even less than 5.0.Soil organism is in a declining trend,the average content of the upper soil organism declines from 31.4mg/kg to 28.3mg/kg,soil samples with an organism content less than 20g/kg increase from 0.56% to 11.11%.The available phosphorus shows an obvious increasing trend with average value increasing from 6.4mg/kg to 89.1mg/kg,soil samples with the available phosphorus content over than 20mg/kg increase from 0.74% to 56.66%,and coefficient of variation reaches a high value of 164.6%.CEC decreases from 19.3cmol/kg to 17.8cmol/kg.（2） In different function areas,the contents of organism and the clay（<0.01mm%） have no significant variations in all kinds of function areas,pH of else area（mainly vegetable field） is significantly lower than the others,the available phosphorus of else area is higher than the other function area with an extremely significant level,the content of NH₄-N of else area is higher than the others with a significant level,and gets an extremely significant level in areas related to chemical factories and aquiculture,CEC of the area of chemical factory is lower than the others with a significant level.（3） In different physiognomic areas,the contents of organism,available phosphorous and NH₄-N have no significant variations in all kinds of physiognomic areas,pH of soil upper layer is significant in all kinds of physiognomic area,and pH of lake area in the south is the smallest（5.51）,lower than the low area in the north and the plain area in the middle with an extremely significant level,the lower layer pH of lake area in the south is significantly lower than the other two,CEC of lake area in the south（22.2cmol/kg） is higher than the other two with a significant level,the content of soil clay <0.01mm（%） is significant in different physiognomy,that of lake area in the south is higher both in upper layer and under layer,and higher than low area in the north and the plain area in the middle with an extremely significant level.（4） In different profile layers,soil basic properties vary much,pH-value increases with the increase of depth,and the contents of organism,available phosphorus,NH₄-N and CEC decrease with the increase of depth.