In this study, our goal is to estimate the water regulating ability of terraces ,which is one of the most important soil and water conservation measures in the Three-Gorge Reservoir Region,as well as the south China.Six testing fields at the different height were selected ,which with two kinds of land use types including abandoned land and slope farmland,and then we analyzed the storage capacity of yellow soil and the impact factors of soil reservoir after terracing in Jinyun Mountain ,Chongqing.The results showed as follows:(1)In the test area,soil reservoir storage was mainly affected by the thickness of the soil layer,and land use types before terracing were also related;(2)Soil property changes,especially soil porosity and soil texture changes caused by terracing ,also had an important impact on soil reservoir characteristics;(3)Under the designed once-in-a-century rainstorm in this area,terraces could reduce more than 30% of the storm runoff theoretically simulated by simplified runoff formation model,so terraces would play an important role in drought or waterlog prevention.