Land Suitability Assessment and Land Use Change in Fujian Province,China

To present the current status of land quality and distribution and the trends in land use change, the physical suitability of cropland and forestland and the associated changes in Fujian Province were evaluated and analyzed using data obtained from geographical information systems (GIS) and remote sensing (RS).Of the total land area of Fujian Province,first class suitable cropland accounted for only 4.21%, whereas unsuitable cropland accounted for 84.78%. The percentage of first class suitable cropland in the southeastern region (5.32%) was much higher than that in the northwestern area (2.91%).Only 13.63% of the existing cropland area consisted of first class cropland and 70.08% was classified as unsuitable for cultivation.Of the total land area of Fujian Province,the first class forestland comprised 55.25% and the unsuitable forestland (including third class) comprised 21.2%.The percentage of unsuitable forest area in the existing forestland was only 5.5%.From 1996 to 2001, cropland and unused land decreased significantly, whereas forestland and land used for urban and transport increased rapidly.Therefore,the major tasks ahead will be the land development for full grain production potential,the better coordination of allocating land to different uses, and the regulation inappropriate activities that damage agricultural ecosystems.

华南地区海岛型史前沙丘遗址的时空分布与全新世海平面和风沙活动

The lower reaches of the Minjiang River and its adjacent areas were among the most active prehistoric archaeological areas in Fujian Province.The accumulation types of Neolithic archaeological strata are roughly divided into dune sites and dune/shell mound sites.The sites can also be roughly divided into estuarine,coastal,and sea-island sites based on their geomorphic features.The cultural development of these prehistoric sites is of great significance for understanding the migration and spread of Austronesian civilization.Based on luminescence dating of typical Neolithic sites on Haitan Island,their quartz-OSL(optically stimulated luminecesence)burial ages were determined.Synthesizing previously published results,the temporospatial distribution characteristics of the sea-island sites on Haitan Island are discussed,and the relationship between Neolithic human activities and regional geomorphic processes is analyzed.The results show that:(1)the spatial and temporal distribution of the Haitan Island Neolithic sites are closely related to small-scale geomorphic features and are controlled by mesoscale geomorphic processes.The sites were mainly distributed in the foothills of two high hills along an NNE-SSW trend.With an increase in altitude,the features were distributed as“single site(I)–superimposed site–single site(II)”and appear successively.Single type sites(I)mainly appeared at low sea level,whereas single type sites(II)mainly appeared at high sea level.Superimposed sites were not subject to sea level changes.The relative elevation of the superimposed sites in the study area indicates the optimal residential area for human activities in the region.The single site with an elevation lower than the optimal residential area was mainly restricted by the lowest residential area,whereas the single site at a higher elevation than the optimal residential area was mainly affected by livelihood patterns.(2)High sea level caused by the“backwater effect”in low latitude areas in the southern hemisphere,and coastal aeolian sand activity influenced by sea level fluctuations in the middle Holocene correspond well with human activities recorded in the cultural stratigraphy of sea-island type sites.The altitude of coastal aeolian sand accumulation can be used as an indirect index to estimate the age of coastal dunes.