Spatial-temporal Changes of the Land Use/Cover in the Dongting-Lake Area during the Last Twenty Years

Abstract

The research on the land use/cover change is one of the frontiers and hot spots in the globe change research Based on the Chinese resource and environment spatialtemporal database, and the Landsat TM?MSS and ETM data which were acquired at the end of 1970's?1980's and 1990's respectively, we analyzed the spatialtemporal characteristics of land use/cover changes in the Dongting Lake area The result shows that during the last twenty years there were three landuse types that have changed remarkably The cultivated land decreased by 197% of total cultivated land The construction land and water area expanded, with an increase of 1488% and 877% respectively The landuse change speed of landuse type at the period between the end of 1970's and 1980's is slower than that at the period between the end of 1980's and 1990's Three cities and towns, Yueyang City?Yuanjiang County and Hanshou County have gotten the greatest value of the degree of landuse change in all administrative district at the previous 10 years, which means that the land use in these cities and towns has changed much quicklyHowever, at the later 10 years, Shishou City and Jinshi City, all of them are citylevel district,have developed from county to city, replacing Yuan-jiang County and Hanshou County, and have gotten the greatest value of the degree of landuse change