Study on Land Use/Cover in Mountain Area Based on the DEM—Taking the Qinghai Lake Basin as an Example

Study on the influence of terrain upon land use pattern is necessary.This would help us to have a better understanding of the effects of human activity and the physical geography on the processes of land use/cover change,and is of practical significance in regional development and environmental protection.Based on the 1 ∶50000 DEM(Digital Elevation Model) and the multi-temporal remote sensing data of TM image extracted in 2004,this study,taking the Qinghai Lake Basin as an example,analyzed the difference between projected area and true surface area and the relationship between the terrain(elevation,slope and aspect) and the spatial distribution pattern of land use/cover.The conclusions of the study can be drawn as follows: 1) The true surface area is larger than projected area by 754.79 km2.2) There were different land use types associated with different elevations,slope gradients and aspects.The main distributions of different land use types are listed as: cropland,habitation,water area and sandy land(below 3500 m and 2°,S and S-W aspects),woodland(3500-4000 m and 6°-25°),grassland(below 4500 m and 25°),swamp(3500-4500 m,below 25°,N and N-E aspects) and unused land(4000-4500 m,above 15°).3) With the rise of elevation and slope,the index of land use intensity showed a gradual decreasing tendency,and the index of land use intensity decreased in the order of flat land,sunny slope and shady slope.These also showed that the terrain features are the foundation of regional land use pattern in the Qinghai Lake Basin.The reason was the terrain factor determines the redistribution of rainfall,heat and other natural resource,which finally affect the land use type and degree of human being.Compared the index of land use intensity with other typical regions,human activity had little effect on the land use/cover in this study area,so the related researches on environmental and ecological problems should pay more attention to the natural driving factors.