Analysis of Rocky Desertification in Central Guizhou, China, Using Landsat Satellite Data

Abstract

Rocky desertification is a typical type of land degradation in the Southwestern China. It has great economical and ecological implications for the local people. Landsat images for Qingzhen city of Guizhou Province collected in 2000, 2005 and 2010 were used for Karst rocky desertification monitoring. The results show that the good protected area is mainly distributed in the central, south, northeast and north of Qingzhen city; mild area is mainly distributed in the west and southwest of Qingzhen city; moderate area is mainly distributed in the northwest of Qingzhen city; intense area is mainly distributed in the central of Qingzhen city. The results also show that the distribution of RD areas increased from 2000 to 2005, but slightly slow down from 2005 to 2010. However, the rocky desertification in the study area still gets worse, though the rate slow since 2005 due to governmental land protection policies.