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Soil erosion by water affects soil organic carbon (SOC) migration and distribution, which are important processes for defining ecosystem carbon sources and sinks. Little has been done to quantify soil carbon erosion in the three major basins in China, the Yangtze River, Yellow River and Pearl River Basins, which contain the most eroded areas. This research attempts to quantify the lateral movement of SOC based on spatial and temporal patterns of water erosion rates derived from an empirical Unit Stream Power Erosion Deposition Model (USPED) model. The water erosion rates simulated by the USPED model agreed reasonably with observations (R2 = 0.43, P < 0.01). We showed that regional water erosion ranged within 23.3–50 Mg ha–1 year–1 during 1992–2013, inducing the lateral redistribution of SOC caused by erosion in the range of 0.027–0.049 Mg C ha–1 year–1, and that caused by deposition of 0.0079–0.015 Mg C ha–1 year–1, in the three basins. The total eroded SOC was 0.006, 0.002 and 0.001 Pg year–1 in the Yangtze River, Yellow River and Pearl River Basins respectively. The net eroded SOC in the three basins was ~0.0075 Pg C year–1. Overall, the annual average redistributed SOC rate caused by erosion was greater than that caused by deposition, and the SOC loss in the Yangtze River Basin was greatest among the three basins. Our study suggests that considering both processes of erosion and deposition – as well as effects of topography, rainfall, land use types and their interactions – on these processes are important to understand SOC redistribution caused by water erosion.