Landscape pattern of built-up land in a typical mining city, Datong, Shanxi, China from 1986 to 2018.

Abstract

Analyzing the landscape spatial layout and evolution characteristics of built-up land in a mining city is helpful to solve the environment problem, and can provide scientific basis for optimizing the urban land structure and taking timely intervention measures for transformation. Taking Datong, a typical mining city as the case, we examined the spatiotemporal characteristics of landscape of built-up land based on the spatial distribution data of built-up land from 1986 to 2018 with the landscape index analysis method, and detected the landscape change period with graphs obtained by Fourier transform and wavelet transform. The results showed that, during the study period, the area of built-up land in Datong City increased continually, with the growth rate gradually slowing down and the extent spreading from a "northeast-southwest" belt zone to the east. The fragmentation and complexity of the landscape pattern were increasing. The physical connectivity gradually decreased, while functional connectivity alternated between high and low values. The space expansion of Datong City and the fragmentation and complication of landscape pattern of its built-up land may all have a cycle of about 35 years, while the functional connectivity had a longer cycle than the physical connectivity.