The subbottom profiler is one of the most widely used geophysical instruments for marine surveying and marine geological research.Although its vertical resolution becomes more and more high,there are some pitfalls in interpretation of the actual acoustic profile data.In this paper,based on the working principle of the subbottom profiler,the authors analyzed four factors causing the interpretation pitfalls.First,the understanding pitfall caused by the difference between acoustic layers and geological layers;Second,the shallow stratigraphic distortion caused by the horizontally separately placed transducer and hydrophone;Third,the spatial deformation of the acoustic interfaces in the data profiles reflected from special stratigraphic interfaces;The last,the layer thickness distortion caused by the change of the speed of acoustic wave propagation in marine sediments.The method concerning the elimination of these pitfalls during processing and interpreting the subbottom profile data is also discussed.