Land use structure of typical county with conversion of farmland to forests in loess areas of Northern Shaanxi

Abstract

Loess Plateau is the key construction area of ecological environment restoration in China. Since implementing the project of converting farmland to forests, the land use structure and existing problems in the loess area of northern Shaanxi have received extensive attention. Land use structure is the area and proportion of all kinds of land within a certain area, which determines the play of regional functions and land use benefits. This work took Wuqi County, Loess District, Northern Shaanxi, the demonstration county of national project of converting farmland to forests. Based on the land use data of Wuqi County in Loess Ddistrict of north Shaanxi Province in 2009, this work carried out the quantitative analysis and discussion of land use quantitative structure in this area by means of quantitative geographical model and GIS spatial analysis and by using indexes such as diversification, centralization and combination coefficient of ground class. The results show that the quantity and structure of land use in Wuqi County are diversified, the concentration is low, and the complete degree of land use type is high. Additionally, the land combination type is mainly forestland-grassland, and the overall function needs to be improved. This study can provide reference for the quantitative analysis of land use structure in similar areas and counties.