Features of land use/land cover change in theoasisdesert region based on 3S technologiesA case study of the Barkol Kazakhstan autonomous county

Based on Landsat TM image data in 1980, 1994 and 2008, the 3S technology was used to map the land use types and determine the features of land use/land cover change of the Barkol Kazakhstan autonomous county in Xinjiang Province. This study showed that the of construction land, arable land and forest land areas increased and water area decreased in the Barkol Kazakhstan autonomous county during last 28 years; the grassland area firstly decreased from 1980 to 1994 and increased from 1994 to 2008, finally its area increased, and the unused land showed a opposite trend to grassland area. The comprehensively dynamic degree of land use during 1994-2008 was bigger than that during 1980-1994, implying that the transferable rate of land use types increased gradually. This study also proposed that the global warming and ecological engineering were the main drivers of land use/land cover change.