Aiming at the problem of frequent roof water gushing during the mining face of Xuyong No. 1 coal seam with soft bedrock in Guxu Mining area, this paper adopts the methods of field measurement, similar material simulation and numerical simulation to probe the damage range of the overlying rock of 1599 working face, and probes into the failure characteristics of the overlying rock of 1599 working face and the evolution law of the "vertical three zones" of the working face. On this basis, the development characteristics of overlying rock water gushing channel and roof water gushing mechanism of thin coal seam with soft bedrock are revealed. The research results show that the strike distribution of the C19 coal seam is uneven, and when the 1599 working face is drawn to the 80m low-lying section, under the influence of mining, two key layers in the overlying rock are broken, and longitudinal cracks develop upward to form water gushing channels to lead to the Changxing aquifer, and a large amount of water gushing to the working face causes frequent water gushing. For this reason, the joint control of deep and shallow hole grouting and advance drainage measures is put forward for the roof strata in the low-lying section of 1599 working face.