Abstract: The mineral compositions of a total of 194 soil samples collected from 69 parent material-soil units composed of 29 varieties of parent material and 16 soil types or subtypes in Zhejiang were analyzed,and their constituent mineral species and content were obtained. On that basis,the characteristics of the mineral composition were investigated. The results show that different soil types or subtypes of soil have markedly different mineral compositions,and that the number and contents of mineral species vary greatly. The outstanding characteristics are that soils with the same parent material types have similar mineral species,while the content of the same mineral in different soil samples with the same parent material shows small variation,showing the similarity in mineral composition and content of soils with the same parent material. The mineral species and contents in soil layer A to layer C at 69 sections vary little and the mineral composition of soils is apparently affected and controlled by bedrocks. It is advisable to take the parent material of soils with the same geological setting,similar mineral compositions and similar soil environments as an evaluation unit of heavy metal pollution of soils,and the soil types can only be used as a supplemental criterion for unit classification and evaluation.