Abstract
The Changchun–Jilin Economic Zone (CJEZ) is one of the most rapidly developing areas in Northeast China, as well as one of the famous golden maize belts in the world. This is a case study to assess the impacts of urban sprawl on soil resources using remote sensing imagery and geographic spatial analysis methods. The common urbanization intensity index (CUII), soil quality index, and soil landscape metrics were calculated to reflect urbanization and the response of soil resource. Results showed that the area of soil sealing changed from 112,460 ha in 2000 to 139,233 ha in 2015, and in the rural region, the area occupied by urbanization nearly kept balance with the area of rural residential expansion. Urban land increased by 26,767 ha at an annual rate of 3.23% from 2000 to 2015. All seven soil types were occupied during the urbanization process, among which black soil ranked the highest (18,560 ha) and accounted for 69.34% of the total occupied area. Soils of Grades I (3927 ha) and II (15,016 ha) were 64.75% of the total occupied soil areas. Urban land expanded in an irregular shape and a disordered way, which led to an increasing large patch index (LPI) and aggregation index (AI), and a decreasing edge density (ED) and Shannon’s diversity index (SHDI) of the soil landscape in the study area during 2000–2015. According to the geographically weighted regression (GWR) model analysis, the R2 between the CUII and soil landscape metrics decreased from the LPI and ED to SHDI and in turn to AI. The local R2 between SHDI, ED, and CUII showed a gradient structure from the inner city to peri-urban areas, in which larger values appeared with strongly intensive urbanization in urban fringes. Soil sealing induced by urbanization has become a significant factor threatening soil, the environment, and food security. How to coordinate regional development and ensure the sustainability of the multiple functions of soil is a problem that needs to be taken into account in the future development of the region.
Highlights
Urbanization is a global process and is regarded as a necessary phase for most of the country’s development towards modernization [1]
Soil sealing induced by urbanization has been considered as a serious threat to soil degradation, the environment, and food security
The results are fundamental for governments for formulating policies against soil degradation within urban planning and regional development strategies
Summary
Urbanization is a global process and is regarded as a necessary phase for most of the country’s development towards modernization [1]. The latest report from the United Nations showed that the global urbanization process of the rural population is still accelerating and the global urban population is expected to grow to 6.4 billion in 2050 from 3.9 billion in 2014 [2]. Urbanization inevitably leads to the expansion of urban land area. The area of global urban land quadrupled from 1970 to 2000 and the rate of expansion in developing countries even increased after 2000 [3,4]. According to Seto’s study, urban land areas in developing countries are projected to increase from 300,000 km to 1,200,000 km from 2000 to 2050 [5]. The growth of population and unprecedented urbanization created positive
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