The dynamics of land use and land cover in Tongchuan City

Shaanxi Province were analyzed based on TM remote sensing images of 1987 and 2002.Together with remote sensing(RS) and geographic information system technology

information regarding land use types was obtained using the supervised classification method.The characteristics of quantity and spatial variations of land use were further analyzed based on collected information.The results indicate that the percentage of vegetated land(woods

shrubbery

and grassland) increased from 54.52% in 1987 to 64.46% in 2002

approximately an increase of 10 %

implying significant achievements resulted from the project of Grain-to-Green project.Furthermore

the total area of residential land

transferred mainly from cultivated field

almost doubled during the period

showing a serious land use problem of cultivated field depletion owing to urban expansion.