Spatial heterogeneity and driving mechanism of urban climbing and its impact on regional environment in varied landform types in the middle reaches of the Yellow River

Urbanization research is essential for the sustainable use of regional land resources and ecological environment protection.The expansion process and driving factors of urban construction land at different scales in the middle reaches of the Yellow River(MRYR)have not been comprehensively elucidated.In this study,we explored the distribution pattern of urban construction land on different slope gradients at different scales and analyzed its influencing factors.The main findings were as follows:(1)There has been significant expansion of urban construction land in the MRYR over the past 20 years.Spatial heterogeneity was observed in the regional urban construction land expansion process among different geomorphic regions.(2)The urban construction land in the MRYR was expanded vertically to areas with slopes of>5°,particularly in 2005–2010.Significant slope climbing of urban construction land was observed in the loess hilly-gully and rocky mountain areas.(3)In MRYR,68.45%of the counties were categorized as the slope-climbing types,including 37.38%high-slope-climbing types.(4)The regional population density and economic development level were closely associated with regional urban construction land area variability.(5)The climbing process of regional urban construction can effectively alleviate farmland encroachment and pressure on the regional ecological environment.The urban expansion of the metropolitan distribution areas in the Plain region(such as Xi'an,Taiyuan)had a relatively significant impact on the local carbon storage.