Recently

the source area of the Yangtze river and the Yellow river is one of the important areas being researched on environment in the west China

as well as the water conservation on upper reaches of the two rivers. Researching environment must take them into account

because the directly affects the improvement of environment

such as landform

soil

temperature

moisture and erosion etc. Contrasting to the former that took much account on the land use/land cover in the area

the study contrast state by means of remote sensing

utilizing TM images to extract information through the same classification system. The system is divided into eight classes and thirty four types. According to characteristics of the region

the system contains:(1) area diversity principle; (2) combination principle between regionalization and class classification; (3) combination principle between synthetically and dominant factors. It is necessary to establish superior manipulative ability of interpretation marks on the studied area

and beneficial to make further monitor and research