The Distribution Characteristics of Rocky Desertification and Land Use/Land Cover in Karst Gorge Area

The Huajiang Demonstration Area, which is a representative karst area with typical rocky desertification landscape in Guizhou was chosen as the study area. Based on the 5m resolution Spot 5 remote sensing images, the topographic maps (1:10 000) and the land use map etc, the rocky desertification of the area was interpreted. We took quantitative analysis through introducing two concepts: the rocky desertification occurrence among land use/land cover and the land use/ cover structure value of rocky desertification. The data showed that(1) the proportion of highly steep slopes in the study area is one of the reasons leading to large area of rocky desertification; (2)The rocky desertification occurrence among different land use/cover is different, and the land use/ cover type structure among rocky desertification is also different among all grades of desertification; (3)Rocky desertification intensity in different land use/cover can’t be measured in means of rocky desertification occurrence, high rocky desertification occurrence may be in a low-intensity state, and vice versa. (4)It is suggested that land use conditions, rocky desertification grades, and terrain of the land should be fully considered in the process of designing and matching rocky desertification control measures.