Forest soil plays a key role in regulating carbon and nitrogen cycle and mitigating the effects of global climate change. However, due to the differences in forest type, age, and altitude, there is still a great uncertainty about the estimation of forest soil carbon and nitrogen reserves. In this study, we used the measured data from Qinghai forest soil to estimate the density of organic carbon, nitrogen, and the storage of organic carbon and nitrogen pool, and their vertical distribution patterns. The results indicated that 1 ) the soil organic carbon density showed a unimodal change with the altitude with a maximum (34.33 kg/m~2) at the altitude of 31003400 m; the nitrogen density increased with the increase in altitude, and ranged from 1.39 to 2.93 kg/m~2. 2) In the 030 cm soil layer, the soil organic carbon and nitrogen density decreased with an increase in the soil depth, and their ranges were from 3.84 to 4.63 kg/m~2 and 0.22 to 0.27 kg/ m~2, respectively. 3) Total soil carbon storage was 1098.70 Tg, and the total nitrogen storage was 61.78 Tg in the forest soil of Qinghai province at 0100 cm soil layer. 4) There was a positive correlation between the altitude and nitrogen content, as well as between the altitude and nitrogen density (P<0.01). There was a negative correlation between the soil depth and organic carbon content, and a positive correlation between the soil depth and organic carbon density and nitrogen density (P<0.01). These results indicate that the altitude and soil depth are key factors influencing the distribution of organic carbon and nitrogen in forest soils in Qinghai Province.