Study on land cover dynamic change in the resource area of Yangtze River and Yellow River using GIS and RS

The authors monitored dynamic changes of land cover in the source region of the Yangtze and Yellow Rivers by using 1986 TM and 2000 ETM datum based RS and GIS technology. The result show that prominent changes have taken place in the past 14 years. The land used for urban and rural residence has been increasing rapidly, and the grassland has been reduced and increasingly changed into unused land. It is also shown that wetland, the forest land and the comprehensive land use index has been decreasing obviously, indicating that the desertification have become stronger. The main driving forces lead to these changes are abnormal climate and irrational human being activity.