Search Results (9)

Under a warming–humidifying climate, precipitation patterns on the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau have significantly shifted due to a water imbalance in its solid–liquid structure. Using monthly precipitation data (1961–2023), we analyzed the spatial distribution and dynamics of 200 mm and 400 mm isohyets through climate propensity rates and centroid center migration. The results show: (1) precipitation increased significantly (4.17 mm/decade), decreasing spatially from southeast to northwest. Regionally, it increased in areas like the southern Qinghai Plateau region, but declined in the southern Himalayas and central–southern Altyn−Tagh Mountains. (2) The 200 mm line migrated northward in southern Qiangtang, shrank around Qaidam Basin, with an overall northeastward shift; the 400 mm line moved westward in eastern Qiangtang and Hehuang Valley, northward in southern Qinghai, trending northwest. (3) From 1961 to 1990 and 1991 to 2023, the 200 mm isohyet’s centroid shifted 49 km north and 17 km east, while the 400 mm isohyet moved 22 km north and 19 km west. (4) Vertically, the 200 mm isohyet ascended by 7.11 m/decade, while the 400 mm line rose more slowly (2.61 m/decade). These changes indicate a significant shift in precipitation distribution, impacting regional hydrological processes. Full article

Understanding the spatial morphology and geographic adaptability of traditional settlements is crucial for their preservation and management. Accordingly, this study employs Hehuang region, China, as a case study, adopting an integrated approach that combines morphological type analysis and boundary shape index. This comprehensive methodology systematically investigates the spatial morphological features and reveals the geographic adaptability of the two types of traditional villages, which are river valley and mountain types. Specifically, the results demonstrate that: (1) The boundary morphology of river valley-type traditional villages is primarily composite, with a regular and compact overall tendency, creating a spatial pattern consisting of mountains and water bodies surrounding farmland and villages, which conveniently supports agricultural production. Their streets and alleys are mainly fishbone-shaped, dendritic, and grid-shaped. (2) Mountain-type traditional villages also exhibit composite boundary morphology but with lower compactness, higher fragmentation, and more pronounced belt-shape characteristics. Their spatial pattern facilitates agriculture and animal husbandry, with streets and alleys being predominantly grid-shaped, S-shaped, and Z-shaped. (3) The spatial morphology of both types of villages is well-adapted to local terrain and climate conditions, as well as to the resident’s requirements for water use and disaster prevention, which reflects the wisdom of the Hehuang region’s ancestors regarding settlement construction. This study contributes to comprehending the spatial characteristics and geographic adaptability of traditional villages in a multicultural area and provides a significant reference for advancing analogous traditional settlement protections and rural revitalization initiatives. Full article

Investigating the evolution and drivers of multifunctional land use is essential for sustainable land management and regional biological conservation. This research focuses on the Hehuang Valley, where we developed an “ecological-social-production” evaluation system for assessing land use multifunctionality from the perspective of multifunctional landscape. Leveraging Geographic Information System technologies, we conducted a quantitative analysis of spatiotemporal variations in multifunctional land use across the valley in recently twenty years. Correlation coefficients were employed to identify trade-offs and synergies among various land use functions. Additionally, geographical detector and grey relational analysis models were utilized to pinpoint the factors influencing spatiotemporal changes in land use functions during the specified period. The results showed that: (1) During the period, the overall multifunctionality of land use in the Hehuang Valley exhibited an increasing trend. The economic production function of the land showed the highest growth, while the ecological and social functions showed lower growth. (2) In most areas of the Hehuang Valley, there was a positive correlation between social and economic production functions and a negative correlation between social and ecological functions, as well as between economic production and ecological functions. (3) Natural conditions were the main factors of spatial variation of land use comprehensive functions, but human factors, including land use intensity and the rate of farmland conversion to non-agricultural uses, were the primary drivers of temporal changes in multifunctional land use. The findings provide valuable references and scientific support for policymakers in optimizing land use and multifunctional landscape conservation. Full article

Accurate cropland distribution data are essential for efficiently planning production layouts, optimizing farmland use, and improving crop planting efficiency and yield. Although reliable cropland data are crucial for supporting modern regional agricultural monitoring and management, cropland data extracted directly from existing global land use/cover products present uncertainties in local regions. This study evaluated the area consistency, spatial pattern overlap, and positional accuracy of cropland distribution data from six high-resolution land use/cover products from approximately 2020 in the alpine agricultural regions of the Hehuang Valley and middle basin of the Yarlung Zangbo River (YZR) and its tributaries (Lhasa and Nianchu Rivers) area on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. The results indicated that (1) in terms of area consistency analysis, European Space Agency (ESA) WorldCover cropland distribution data exhibited the best performance among the 10 m resolution products, while GlobeLand30 cropland distribution data performed the best among the 30 m resolution products, despite a significant overestimation of the cropland area. (2) In terms of spatial pattern overlap analysis, AI Earth 10-Meter Land Cover Classification Dataset (AIEC) cropland distribution data performed the best among the 10 m resolution products, followed closely by ESA WorldCover, while the China Land Cover Dataset (CLCD) performed the best for the Hehuang Valley and GlobeLand30 performed the best for the YZR area among the 30 m resolution products. (3) In terms of positional accuracy analysis, the ESA WorldCover cropland distribution data performed the best among the 10 m resolution products, while GlobeLand30 data performed the best among the 30 m resolution products. Considering the area consistency, spatial pattern overlap, and positional accuracy, GlobeLand30 and ESA WorldCover cropland distribution data performed best at 30 m and 10 m resolutions, respectively. These findings provide a valuable reference for selecting cropland products and can promote refined cropland mapping of the Hehuang Valley and YZR area. Full article

Clarifying the spatiotemporal distribution and influencing factors of mosque architecture in China’s Hehuang region has significant positive implications for the overall protection and development of the region’s architectural cultural heritage. This study utilizes field surveys and acquires POI data of traditional mosques built before 1993 in the region to analyze the distribution characteristics of mosques, aiming to explore future development trends of these religious structures. It also investigates the influencing factors, with the goal of emphasizing the primary and secondary factors affecting mosque distribution. The study finds the following: (1) Mosques are generally centered around the Huangshui Valley, displaying a “central clustering, peripheral dispersal” distribution pattern, forming a spatial structure of “two cores, one belt, multiple points”, with distinct differentiation and overall uneven distribution. (2) Mosques are primarily situated at elevations between 2147 and 2764 m; on slopes less than 15°, in sunny and gentle slopes; within 20 km from rivers; within 14 km from roads; in areas receiving 400–500 mm annual rainfall; and within temperature ranges of 5.54–10.22 °C. (3) The study also finds that the spatial distribution of mosques is profoundly influenced by both natural geographical factors and human environmental factors. The better the natural location, the larger and denser the population, the richer the cultural resources, the higher the level of economic development, and the greater the concentration of Hui people, the more numerous and concentrated the mosques. (4) Population factors are the dominant factors for the clustered distribution of traditional mosques in the Hehuang area. Since the construction of mosques in the region is closely related to the number of Hui people and the proportion of Muslim adherents, areas with a high concentration of mosques also have relatively larger populations of Hui people. Temperature, precipitation, altitude, rivers, and roads are foundational factors for traditional mosques in the Hehuang area, influencing mosque distribution as external factors. Full article

In this paper, we strive to showthat the protection of the ecological environment of the Yellow River can impact regional sustainable development and human society. Based on GIS and historical documents, we selected 1640AD in the late Ming Dynasty and 1726, 1746, and 1856AD in the early and middle Qing Dynasty as time sections to reconstruct the distributions of cropland and vegetation in the Hehuang valley. Our results showed that the cropland in the Ming Dynasty was mainly distributed in the valley of Sainei;during the early and mid-Qing Dynasty, the cropland reclamation broke the boundary of the Great Wall. Furthermore, replacing vegetation with cropland resulted in the rapid decline of water conservation capacity in the medium and high mountain areas. The decline of water conservation capacity significantly contributed to the frequent occurrence of natural disasters, such as drought, flood, water erosion, and sand pressure, which led to decreased cropland output. By the mid-Qing Dynasty, the cropland area had saturated while the population was still growing, and the grain yield could not meet the demands of the expanding population. Due to both natural and social factors, two social upheavals occurred in the late Qing Dynasty, which significantly affected the development of the regional social economy. Therefore, the destruction of the ecological environment and the reduction of water conservation capacity became an important driving force for the destruction of sustainable regional development. Full article

The Tibetan Plateau is one of the world’s most extreme habitats and one of the most challenging ecosystems on the planet. Many multi-ethnic traditional villages have developed on the plateau over its long history, and are an essential component of human settlement. It is critical to research them, and it is also significant for China’s goals to make the Tibetan Plateau a distinctive ethnic cultural preservation site and a world tourist destination. While there have been limited studies focusing on villages in the entire Tibetan Plateau area, as a result, we aim to expand the field of research on the regional study of traditional villages and make progress in research throughout the Tibetan Plateau. The question addressed in this study is what the current characteristics of the distribution of traditional villages on the Tibetan Plateau are, and we attempt to propose suggestions for the preservation of traditional villages according to the distribution characteristics. Methods such as the closest neighbor index, kernel density estimates, and spatial autocorrelation analysis are used to investigate the characteristics of the spatial distribution of traditional Chinese villages on the Tibetan Plateau, as well as regression analysis of the factors that control this distribution. The findings indicate that traditional villages are unevenly distributed over the plateau, with fewer villages in the northwest and more in the southeast, showing an agglomeration type of distribution. The village distribution on provincial and municipal is uneven with a large step difference. Tibetans make up the majority of the population in the villages, but other ethnic groups are present at the margins of the plateau. The distribution of traditional villages shows “big scattered, small gather” characteristics, and one core cluster (the Hehuang Valley area of Qinghai Province) and five high-density areas (the western Sichuan Plateau; the Three Parallel Rivers area of Yunnan Province; the Yarlung Zangbo, Nyangqu, and Lhasa rivers (YZN) area of Tibet Province; the Yushu area of Qinghai Province; and the Gannan area of Gansu and Sichuan province). The natural environment has the strongest influence on the distribution of traditional villages, followed by human impacts, especially concerning the distribution of single and multi-ethnic villages, and socioeconomic factors, which have multiple influences. Full article

During the Late Neolithic and Bronze Age, the spread of Triticeae crops gradually transformed local millet agriculture in the Gansu–Qinghai region. However, few studies focused on the distribution characteristics and geographical factors influencing Triticeae agriculture. Here, geographical data from 65 sites with barley (Hordeum vulgare) and wheat (Triticum aestivum) remains in Gansu–Qinghai region were studied by spatial analysis in ArcGIS. The results showed that spatiotemporal distribution of barley and wheat exhibited three stages: firstly appeared in the central Hexi Corridor at ~4000 cal. a BP, then spread throughout the Hexi Corridor and Qinghai Lake area during 3600–3200 cal. a BP, and continued to move southward to the Hehuang Valley and Weihe River Basin during 3200–2300 cal. a BP. The studied sites were mainly distributed along rivers and certain altitude with suitable climatic conditions. The average distance to the nearest river was ~8 km, with wheat sites ~300 m closer than barley’s. The average elevation was 3500–1500 m, with wheat sites ~200 m lower than barley’s. The variations in spatiotemporal distribution were attributed to greater environmental tolerance of barley. These findings provide important environmental insights into the spatiotemporal distribution and transmission routes of barley and wheat in northwest China. Full article

As the “Asian Water Tower”, understanding the hydrological cycles in Qinghai Province and its interior is critical to the security of terrestrial ecosystems. Based on Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS)16 evapotranspiration (ET) remote sensing data, we used least squares regression, correlation analysis, and t-test to determine the temporal and spatial changes and trends of ET in Qinghai Province and its five ecological functional regions, located on the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau (Plateau) Western China from 2000 to 2020. In addition, we discussed the main factors affecting the changes of ET in different regions of Qinghai Province over the first two decades of the 21st century along spatial as well as altitudinal gradients. The results showed that: (1) the average annual ET in Qinghai Province was 496.56 mm/a, the highest ET value appeared in the southeast of the study area (684.08 mm/a), and the lowest ET value appeared in the Qaidam region in the northwest (110.49 mm/a); (2) the annual ET showed an increasing trend with a rate of 3.71 mm/a (p < 0.01), the place where ET decreased most was in the Three-River Source region (−8–0 mm/a) in the southwest of the study area, and the ET increased the most in the Hehuang region in the east of the study area (9–34 mm/a); (3) temperature (T) was the dominant ET change factor in Qinghai Province, accounting for about 65.27% of the region, followed by the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and precipitation (P) for 62.52% and 55.41%, respectively; and (4) ET increased significantly by 2.84 mm/100 m with increasing altitude. The dominant factors changed from P to NDVI and T as the altitude increased. The research is of practical value for gaining insight into the regional water cycle process on the Plateau under climate change. Full article