Golden Economic Quadrangle Region is located on the borders of China, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand, the only multi-national geo-economic region in the Lancang-Mekong River Basin. With the development of various economic cooperation mechanisms, this region is becoming a hot and vulnerable area of land use and land cover change. The study has found that the current researches on land use and land cover change are relatively scattered and dispersed, lacking of holistic, comprehensive and regional comparative studies. Most data of land use and land cover change classification and mapping are from global and large-scale works, which can’t satisfy the regional research needs from the spatial and temporal perspectives. There have been only few high-resolution regional classifications and mapping studies. The levels of the studies on particular land types, i. e., opium poppy, swidden land, rubber forest, vary. Especially, the remote sensing recognition method and spatial- temporal analysis are inadequate. Pattern and process analysis of land use and land cover change has paid more attention to certain land types, but less attention to integrated and national comparative studies. Studies on driving forces of land use and land cover change are only carried out in small local areas. There are abundant studies on the effects of land use and land cover change on soil environment, but relatively rare on water, atmosphere, and eco-environment. The paper suggests that it is necessary to emphasize on comparative studies in different spatial and temporal scales, expand the research topics, adopt comprehensive methodologies, and at the same time, put more focus on the studies in the border regions and underdeveloped areas. The inter-national comparative studies on land use and land cover change on the borders of China, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand, not only help enrich the basic database of land use and land cover change, but also provide references for sustainable land use and regional development on the borders of the four countries.

Study on the mechanism of how a regional spatial structure evolves in long time series has been a weak link of the process of discovering a spatial structural model, nonetheless the analysis of historical causes in long time series is important for assessing the current status of a regional spatial structure and provides a scientific basis for optimizing it in the future. From the perspective of the nodal region, this paper presents a systematic analysis of the whole dynamic of the progression axis of the region of Jiangsu Province as a“Pole-Axis” structural model since B.C.770, including its formation, development, dominance, and transition. In addition, based on empirical analysis of four eras of the history, including the Spring and Autumn Period, the Sui Dynasty, the Yuan Dynasty, and Present time, a lateral comparison is conducted between the“Pole-Axis”structural model and“Dual-Nuclei”structural model. The analysis indicates that the regional development could be divided into four periods: from the Spring and Autumn Period to the North-South Dynasties, from the Sui Dynasty to the South Song Dynasty, from Yuan Dynasty to Qing Dynasty, and from Republic era to now, which led to the discovery of the phenomenon of“Dual-nuclei Resonant Axis”in the third period, and“Port-City Resonant Axis” in the fourth period. The“Resonant Axis”structure is a spatial structure composed of an axis of regional central cities and an axis of major port cities (or prefecture-level port cities) connected by transportation networks along river and coastal areas, during a transition stage of development. Furthermore, the paper analyzes the mechanism of the evolution of the spatial structure of Jiangsu Province region from the four aspects: change of cities’functions, transition of the“Pole-Axis”system, layout of modern transportation networks, and the adjacent region (Shanghai).

By using Port Primacy Ratio and modified Hirshmann-Herfindahl Index, transformation of the spatial structure of China’s container port systems in recent 13 years has been quantitatively analyzed from the perspective of cargo flows. The results indicate that: (1) the center of gravity of China’s container port system slowly diverts from the Pearl River Delta region to the Yangtze River Delta region. (2) the spatial structure of the container port systems as a whole enters into the "challenge of the periphery" phase; decentralization of container flows becomes the mainstream tendency of the change of the spatial structure of the container port systems. However, the accumulative effects and diffusive effects of the seven major port regions have significant differences. (3) The spatial structures of the container port systems show different characteristics in seven port regions, such as low-level equilibrium, single-gateway, multi-gateway and so on. The spatial structure of multi-gateway port regions has been formed in the Yangtze River Delta and the Pearl River Delta regions. Macro-control and policy guidance from the government, resource bottleneck at hub ports, facilities and service convergence at peripheral ports, the network expansion of the terminal operators and shipping liners, and expansion and improvement of hinterland transportation networks are the main driving forces of the formation of multi-port spatial structures.

In the process of regional integration, industrial agglomeration and regional specialization are correlated to each other and together are the basis for inter-regional division of labor. In this paper, the“shift-share” model and separated specialization indices for dominant and non-dominant industries are used in the analysis of the correlations between spatial agglomeration and expansion of manufacturing industries as well as the levels of industrial specialization in different parts of Jiangsu Province from 1984 to 2008. The analysis indicates that there is an inverted U-shaped relationship between the dynamic of industrial distribution (agglomeration and expansion) and the level of regional integration, consistent with New Economic Geography models. In addition, deepening of inter-regional division of labor doesn’t synchronize with regional integration; Regional specialization shows different characteristics at different stages of regional integration. In the case study of Jiangsu Province, for example, when the level of regional integration is relatively low, the specialization indices in central and peripheral regions are relatively high due to industrial agglomeration, coexisting with so-called“pseudo division of labor”phenomenon, caused by excessive agglomeration in the central region. When the level of regional integration increases, the central region, limited by the environmental resources, may utilize its advanced industrial basis and become the first to embark on an upgraded path and deepen the specialization, while the peripheral regions, lagged behind and eager to catch up, normally have few choices of industries, and the regions’ specialization levels are rather reducing during certain time period. The reason behind this is that the peripheral regions have to accept a large number of non-dominant industries, some of which are the ones with their productivities falling behind, being eliminated by the central region, using obsolete technologies, and/or causing serious pollutions. All of this indicates that to some extent the peripheral regions may have to take the same old route of“pollute first and then clean up later”that the central region has already gone through.

Due to its uniqueness and developmental characteristics, textile and garment industry has been a top research topic, and been considered as the first to go through global relocation and one of the important industries with characteristics of industrial relocation. This study found that structural changes in textile and garment industry are relatively stable, concentrated in the eastern region. By introducing the coefficient of structural change in the industry to describe the pattern of the location shift Structural changes show striking differences between the regions, with the changes in the coastal region greater than the inland region, the eastern region greater than the mid region, the mid region in turn greater than the western and northeastern region. The structural change coefficient values in Zhejiang, Guangdong, Jiangsu, Shandong, Shanghai and Fujian in the coastal region, Hubei and Henan in the mid region, and Liaoning in the northeastern part are all higher than the average value of the country; the coefficient values in most provinces of the western parts are clearly lower. The value of structural change coefficient is determined by the level of regional economic growth, location, and structural factors. In order to study the driving mechanism of location shift of textile and garment industry, a modified classic “shift-share”analysis is conducted on the structural and spatial effects of the development of the industry separately, using the economic data from 31 provinces divided into 8 regions. The analysis shows that Henan, Anhui and Jiangxi have become target areas and the models of textile and garment industrial relocation in the eastern region; there is a consistency between the competitive effects and net spatial competitive effects of the industry’s location shift.

Transport efficiency is an integrated index to measure transportation system status and its developmental potential. Researchers in other countries have made significant achievements in the fields such as a transport efficiency evaluation econometric model, index system, impact factors and the mechanism from economics and management perspectives. In general, the research on transport efficiency in China is still at the stage of introducing research methods and results from abroad. However, the researchers in China have pioneered in combining transport efficiency with regional spatial structures as well as focusing on the studies of the coupling of spatial pattern of transport efficiency with regional economic systems. In addition, in recent years, energy efficiency and carbon dioxide emission efficiency in transportation have increasingly gained the attention of the researchers. Furthermore, from the perspective of transportation geography, it is of greatly scientific significance and practical value to study the pattern, process, mechanism and effect of transport efficiency with emphasis on its spatial characteristics, based on the analysis of the impact factors and quantitative measurement. The study needs to answer the questions such as: How to evaluate transport efficiency; What is the overall level of transport efficiency; What are the factors and mechanism that affect the temporal and spatial evolution of transport efficiency; What are the effects of the evolution of transport efficiency at the regional levels.

This paper presents an analysis of the influences of sudden crisis event on the accessibility perceived by tourists, based on two field surveys in 2008 and 2011 at the Jiuzhaigou scenic area, before and after the “5.12”earthquake. The tourists involved in the two surveys are treated as two independent sample groups. By using Independent Sample T test, combined with the model for measurement of perceived accessibility, the analysis is conducted from both intra- and inter-group perspectives. The results show that: (1) Before "5.12" earthquake in 2008, the perception of accessibility was better than that in 2011, after “5.12”earthquake; (2) Both surveys showed that the perceived accessibility declined after traveling, compared to that before traveling, indicating that tourists might have lacked realistic judgment of accessibility before traveling. (3) Before the sudden crisis,“ personal safety”was a major concern; after the sudden crisis,“traffic flow”became a major concern. (4) The "5.12" earthquake caused the perceived accessibility to decline dramatically, and imposed negative influences on the local tourism, in terms of the number of tourists and the revenue generated by the tourism.

There are four sets of preserved moraines in Dangzi Valley, located in the southeastern edge of Zhuqing Basin, northern slope of Queershan Mountains, the north branch of the Shaluli Mountains in the Hengduan Mountains, eastern part of Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. Each set of moraines is composed of several small moraines. These are the perfect geomorphological evidence for multiple glacial fluctuations during the Last Glaciation in this region. To reconstruct the history of glacial evolution during the Last Glaciation, seven optically stimulated luminescence(OSL) samples are collected from these moraines. Equivalent doses(De) are determined using SAR(single aliquot regenerative-dose) and SGC(standardized growth curve) protocols. Internal testing results indicate that these protocols are suitable for De determination. The age results show that the first, second, and third sets of moraines were formed during 22.4-16.5 ka BP, belonging to the Marine Isotope Stage 2 (MIS-2), approximately equal to the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). The fourth set was formed during the MIS-3. These results are in good agreement with the chronology of other sites in the Shaluli Mountains. MIS-3 glacier in this region is bigger than MIS-2 glacier. The existence of nine small moraines in first, second, and third sets indicates that Dangzi Glacier had experienced nine small fluctuations during the period of 22.4-16.5 ka BP. The glacier reached its largest MIS-2 scale a little earlier than 22.4 ka BP. After that, the Dangzi Glacier fluctuated and shrank with time, which is probably the response of the glacier to the increasing solar radiation and the rising temperature during late MIS-2. The most inner moraine was formed at 16.5 ka BP, which may be a sign of onset of local deglaciation. Then, the Dangzi Glacier retreated dramatically and rapidly. Melting water converged into the lower part of the valley and was blocked by the most inner moraine and thus formed the Dangzi Lake.

To investigate the dynamic changes and spatial patterns of vegetation in the Huaihe River Basin, this study used SPOT-VGT NDVI (Normalized Different Vegetation Index) data and land use/cover data to analyze the spatial-temporal patterns of vegetation change in the region during 1999 to 2007 by using ArcGIS Spatial analysis tools. The results showed that: (1) SPOT-VGT data, combined with GIS Spatial analysis tools and models, can be used in the calculation and analysis of vegetation cover conditions in river basin scale; (2) NDVI maintained an clearly increasing trend in most areas (71.33%) of the Huaihe River Basin during 1999-2007, suggesting that the vegetation coverage was improved in the region in the last decade, which indicated that the measures of vegetation protection and restoration had achieved positive results; (3) Monthly NDVI variations showed a double-peak curve. The two peaks appeared in April and August respectively, and the peak in April was lower than that in August; (4) The average NDVI showed obvious spatial variations. NDVI in the plain areas was higher than that in the mountain areas, and it was higher in the north areas of Huaihe River than in the south areas; NDVI varied greatly in the mountain areas, with the highest average value in the Dabieshan Mountain and the lowest in the Yimengshan Mountain. Areas in and around the cities had lower NDVI due to high density of built-up land. The areas with relatively poor vegetation coverage had high risk of soil erosion. (5) The NDVI changing trends varied among different land use/cover types. The average NDVI values of cropland, woodland, grassland and alkaline land had shown a stable increasing trend during 1999-2007. The average NDVI of flooded plains land showed a slightly increasing trend. The NDVI of marshes fluctuated dramatically. The results of the studies of dynamic changes and spatial patterns of vegetation in the Huaihe River Basin can provide a scientific basis for planning and taking measures to protect watershed forest, and in turn to control soil erosion.

Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) are a series of persistent, semi-volatile compounds that are found throughout the global environment. Forest plays an important role in the environmental fate of POPs. Because of its high organic content, forest is regarded as a sink for POPs. The primary effect of forest is pumping chemicals from the atmosphere to the forest soil, which is called the "forest filter effect". POPs are exposed to various processes in forest, including adsorption in leaves, leaf litter and dry and wet deposition, and leaching or loss in soil. Some vegetation tissues, for example, pine needles, mosses and tree barks, are observed to accumulate POPs, and have been employed for monitoring regional and global distribution of POPs. This paper reviewed the progress on the above-mentioned scientific topics and discussed the overlooked topics in current researches. In addition, we pointed out the work needed for further studies on POPs, especially in forest of China.

Exchanges at the air-soil surface play an important role in controlling the regional and global transport, redistribution and fate of POPs. The main processes contributing to the exchanges at air-soil interface are wet deposition, dry deposition and volatilization from the soil. Furthermore, the diffusive exchange of POPs is the key process affecting the matter of“source or sink”. Diffusive exchange between air and soil is driven by the concentration gradient between air and soil. Soil-air partitioning is mainly dependent on physical and chemical properties of compounds, temperature and soil organic matter. As the production of most POPs has been banned in many countries after 1980s, the soil of mid-latitude area is gradually becoming a secondary source of the lighter molecular weight compounds to the atmosphere and a sink for the heavier ones. Air-soil exchange direction is affected by temperature and shows a seasonal trend such that soil is a source in summer and a sink in winter. Fugacity model is a powerful tool to estimate the air-soil exchange fluxes quantitatively. This paper reviewed the research progress on the above-mentioned scientific topics, pointed out the research areas that need more focus, and made suggestions for further studies.

Landscape ecological corridor planning is an important method to protect biodiversity. Land use type is not the only index to describe landscape forms. Taking the estimation of ecological service value as well as terrain index into account helps better reflect the spatial variations of landscapes. In this paper, based on ecological service value and terrain factors, the layout of ecological landscape corridors in Guan-Tian economic region is analyzed with a grid resolution of 1 km. The results are shown as follows: (1) Correlation analysis shows that terrain factors have a significant impact on the distribution of ecological value. When the ridges and valleys are extracted using the unified threshold, it is found that the areas with high or low ecological values are ridges or valleys of the terrain as well; the transition zones superimpose very well. (2) The ridges with high ecological value are extracted as habitat patches, then the layout of ecological corridors is modeled in space by choosing the direction through the areas with the biggest ecological resistance. Since the corridor width can be adjusted based on the species types, the relatively short length of the corridors makes it easier to construct, and adding or removing nodes and patches doesn’t affect the topological relationship between each corridor and the surrounding network, the applicability of the modeling results is relatively high. (3) As mentioned above, using ecological service value and terrain factors help better reflect the similarities and differences of the landscape functions of the pixel unit, and also helps avoid the problems such as land use classifications being too broadly defined, identifications of habitat patches being too difficult, and the paths with similar ecological resistance being too many, etc. All in all, the work presented in this paper is an effective supplement to the design of ecological corridors in a kilometer scale, and at the same time, demonstrates the necessity to develop the methods for the studies of ecological aspects of the landscapes in specific regions, under the background of dramatic differences of the geographic features between the east and the west of China.

From the perspective of point pattern, this paper presents a study of the distribution mechanism of spatial characteristics of woodland and its different types of landscapes, in order to explore the continuous change and the trend of spatial heterogeneity distribution of woodland landscapes, and provide the basis for rational planning and construction of woodland landscapes. By using point process density and Ripley K function, we established different belt transects for the ecological barrier zone of Three Gorges Reservoir in Chongqing, created the point pattern database for the woodland landscapes from 1997 to 2005, and then analyzed the gradient distribution of the belt transects and the change of the spatial clustering of the woodland and its three different types of landscapes. The results indicated that: (1) the gradient distribution of the belt transects as a whole was strikingly unbalanced, with the point process density showing“twin peak”distribution upstream of center point, and gradient distribution downstream of it. (2) As for the changes in different spatial and temporal scales, the point patterns of all woodland landscapes in the barrier zone showed distribution of local spatial clustering. Although the largest L(d) value of the spatial scale were both 40 km in 1997 and 2005, the range of woodland distribution expanded since 2005; Uniform spatial distribution increased, and spatial clustering decreased. (3) The characteristics of spatial clustering of forest land coincided with overall woodland landscapes, the largest L(d) value of the spatial scales were both 40 km in 1997 and 2005, but the forest land started to lose its natural advantages. Distribution of shrub land was more clustered in space in comparison to forest land, and the degree of clustering increased with time, with the largest L(d) values of spatial scales being 50 km in both 1997 and 2005. Open forest land expanded rather fast, and became dispersed in space as a result of reduced spatial clustering. The largest L(d) value of spatial scales was 40 km in 1997 and 30 km in 2005.

The last 20 years have seen new progresses in palaeochannel studies in China, including the investigations on palaeochannels in Nenjiang Daan, palaeochannels in the plain south of Laizhou bay, and palaeochannels, deep ancient grooves and submarine palaeochannels in the Yangtze river downstream of Nanjing, and so on. As a result, a large number of achievements have been accomplished, and new theories proposed; the research achievements have found new applications as well. The new knowledge and new theories indicate that buried palaeochannels exist in all of large outflowing rivers in China since the LGM(Last Glacial Maximum). The palaeochannel runs deep into the stadial terrestrial and the sea bed of the continental shelf from the Last Glacial Epoch, forming a cutting valley with deep grooves at the bottom, stacked with fluvial carryover and coarse particulate material from the LGM and early Holocene. The upper part of the valley is covered with marine, paralic, and continental fine-grained material from the Holocene, which frames the shallow-buried palaeochannel with 20 m to 50 m depth. Palaeochannels are rich in underground water, and an important water source for the areas of alluvial plain and shallow continental shelf.

Hydrological time series are usually composed of various components with complicated characteristics.At present it is generally thought that hydrological time series mainly show stochastic,fuzzy,nonlinear, non-stationary,and multi-temporal scale characteristics.In this paper,research progresses on the time series analysis methods to study the characteristics of hydrological processes and their applications are summarized,including serial correlation analysis methods,hydrological frequency analysis methods,fuzzy analysis methods,chaos theories and methods,information entropy theories,and wavelet analysis methods.The main issues and the problems to be solved with regard to the methods mentioned above are discussed,namely,the disadvantages and limitations in their applications to hydrological time series analysis.Finally,it is pointed out that further improvement and optimization of the methods,combination and coupling between the methods,emphasis on the combination of the analyses of physical mechanisms and mathematical statistics,are the key not only to improving the results of hydrological time series analysis,but also to studying and solving the hydrology and water resources issues caused by environmental change.

Digital elevation models(DEMs) can be considered as a digital representation of landscape topographic properties. Construction of a DEM-based digital model for a drainage network and extraction of hydrological attributes of the drainage network are important premises for simulation of distributed hydrological processes in a catchment. Usually, the quality and efficiency of the extraction of hydrological characteristics of a river basin from DEM data are affected by treatment of the closed depressions and flat areas in DEM, determination of flow directions, and selection DEM resolutions. In this paper, fundamental principles, methods and algorithms for extraction of the features of drainage networks and watersheds are reviewed; research progresses on the methods for treatment of flat areas and depressions and for determination of flow directions are discussed; the progress on software design and development for extractions from different types of DEM data are introduced; the effects of different scales and resolutions of DEM on the extraction of drainage network and watershed features are explored. Furthermore, the research progresses on the extraction of the features of drainage networks in flat areas and plain region are summarized.

It is a critical scientific challenge to better simulate urban growth, especially for the regions undergoing rapid urbanization in developing countries. Conventional methods based on single or integrated models, however, can not provide direct support for decision-making. This paper introduces a new urban growth simulation model——FUTURES(FUTure Urban-Regional Environment Simulation). The model was developed by UNC Charlotte Center for Applied GIScience (CAGIS). FUTURES not only considers the gradient calculation of dynamic suitability for urban growth, analysis of the trend of per capita land consumption, and visual simulation of patch changes based on spatial locations, but also focuses on the feedback process of dynamic interactions between modules, thus forms a unique insightful coupling mechanism, and model structure is compact and flexible. A number of experiments have been executed in a high performance computing environment for several study areas of North Carolina, USA. This paper mainly describes the model design, model composition, and key modeling methods, and summarizes the characteristics and advantages of this model. This review provides a reference for urban growth simulation research in China, which will be meaningful and helpful for promoting related research from another point of view.

The demand for spatial data sets of precipitation in digital form has risen dramatically in recent years. This paper describes a new surface modeling method, high accuracy and high speed method(HASM), which has been successfully used for digital elevation model(DEM) construction and ecosystem changes. We explored the relationship between precipitation and geographical/topographical variables and local topographical factors, developed a polynomial regression model for seasonal precipitation in each region, and then used symmetric successive over-relaxation method and preconditioned conjugate gradient method to solve the matrix equations produced by HASM, which effectively improved the model. We used ArcGIS to create buffers with a specific distance around each subarea, and the actual computational domain expanded to the buffer area. Polynomial regression and residuals interpolation using HASM were applied to develop a gridded precipitation database for China in seasonal scales with a resolution of 1 km in longitude and latitude. We used precipitation data measured at 711 stations during the period of 1951-2010, with 80% of them used for surface development and 20% reserved for validation tests. Accuracy tests revealed that HASM is superior to the classical methods such as Kriging, Inverse Distance Weighting (IDW) and Spline. Precipitation surfaces generated by HASM showed good performance in precipitation research. Therefore, HASM can be considered as an alternative and accurate method for precipitation interpolation in China.

It is important for rational water use and water management to study the change of runoff processes in response to climate change. Based on HIMS(Hydro-Informatic Modeling System) model, using daily precipitation data from 33 rainfall stations from 1986 to 2000, and daily maximum and minimum temperature measured at 8 meteorological stations, this paper presents a simulation of runoff processes in the Huangshui river basin in Qinghai province. Parameter sensitivity analysis and validation of the simulation are conducted using the recorded runoff data from six hydrological stations during the same time period. Results indicate that efficiency coefficient and correlation coefficient of the simulated daily data at five stations exceed 0.5, except Shiyazhuang station; the efficiency coefficient and correlation coefficient of the simulated monthly data at five stations exceed 0.9. Daily and monthly sensitivity analysis and validation generates good outcome as well, demonstrating that the HIMS model applies to the runoff processes in the Huangshui River basin very well, and can be used to simulate the scenarios of areal responses to climate change, which meets the requirements of water resources management. Based on this, the changes of precipitation and temperature in recent 50 years(from 1961 to 2010) in the Huangshui River basin are analyzed, and the hydrological responses(runoff) to 9 types of possible climate change scenarios are simulated and analyzed. The results suggest that climate change has significantly effects on the runoff of the Huangshui River basin. If temperature rises and precipitation decreases, then runoff shows a strong tendency to decrease; on the contrary, if changes of temperature and precipitation reverse, runoff shows a tendency to increase. In addition, in the Huangshui river basin, precipitation is the key climatic factor, and the effect of precipitation change on runoff processes is significantly greater than that of temperature change.

The large-scale change of the amount of water storage over the Yangtze River basin is obtained by using monthly gravity field data, derived from GRACE satellite data between April of 2002 and December of 2010 with Gaussian filter. The temporal and spatial variations of water storage over the Yangtze River basin are compared to the data from GLDAS (Global Land Data Assimilation System) model. The results indicate that: (1) The two sets of data, derived from GRACE satellite and GLDAS model, show the same trend of change in the majority of the areas with high level of consistency; the correlation coefficient is 0.89 (P<0.05). (2) The amount of water storage over the Yangtze River Basin from 2002 to 2010 has an increasing trend. The average annual growth rate is 0.43cm/month, equivalent to 95.04×10⁹ m³/a, with an average annual growth rate of 0.53 cm/month (67.13×10⁹ m³/a) in the upstream area, 0.51cm/month (25.73×10⁹ m³/a) in the midstream area, and 0.36 cm/month (9.14×10⁹ m³/a) in the downstream area. The increasing amount of water storage over the Yangtze River Basin during the time period of nearly nine years is estimated to be 855.33×10⁹ m³/a. Judging from the spatial distribution of average annual water storage over the Yangtze River Basin, there is a shortage in January, February, March, and December, and a surplus in July, August, and September, with a clear transition from shortage to surplus in April, May and June from downstream to upstream, and a transition from surplus to shortage in October and November from upstream to downstream. The maximum increase rate of water storage over the whole basin, in the upstream and midstream areas is in September, with 1.01 cm/a, 1.37 cm/a, and 1.05 cm/a, respectively, whereas in the downstream area the maximum increase rate is in July, with 1.62 cm/a.