Characterization of the scale system and driving mechanism of wells canals settlement in Turpan oasis

Abstract

Abstract Background Rapid urbanization and industrialization have exacerbated the competition for water resources within the oasis, which has become a major problem for the oasis villages to achieve sustainable development .As a typical closed oasis, the relationship between water and settlement in the Turpan Basin is very sensitive.Therefore, this study is based on multi-period remote sensing imagery and economic data using the bit order-size law and geographic detector the characteristics of spatial and temporal variability of oasis village settlements within the basin and their influencing factors. Results The results show that (1) the number and area of oasis countryside settlements in the Turpan Basin have increased rapidly in the past 35 years, but the spatial distribution is uneven, presenting a trend of retrospective growth, forming the spatial characteristics of fewer north and south, and the central part of the countryside along the Flaming Mountains-Salt Mountain presenting the distribution of bead-like agglomerations.(2)The dominant position of larger settlements is obvious, and the number and size of low-grade settlements show rapid and disorderly expansion, resulting in the fragmentation of the size of settlement patches and the widening gap between the first and last settlements.(3) Height, slope, and groundwater are the main natural constraints for the formation of rural settlement scale patterns in the Turpan Basin, and distance to government, roads, artificial canals, and cultivated land area are key socio-humanistic drivers.(4) Settlement evolution in the Aragou-Baiyanghe basin and the Daheyan-Tarlang basin is driven by height and cultivated land area; while shifts in water resource utilization have had the most prominent impact on the formation of spatial patterns of settlement sizes in the Meiyaogou-Ertanggou basin, and in the Kekeya-Kanerqi basin. Condusions The research results are of great significance for optimizing the rural settlement structure and realizing the sustainable development of oasis villages in arid areas