Analysis of structural characteristics and driving factors for polder landscape based on Landsat ETM+ data in the East Chaohu Area, China

Based on Landsat ETM+ remote sensing data and historical geography analysis, this paper studied structural characteristics and driving factors for polder (artificial dike-surrounded field) landscapes in the East Chaohu Area of Anhui Province, China. According to the characteristics of polder structure and spectral analysis of typical objects, differential methods were used to gain structural characteristics of polder landscape in this area. The results indicated that the spatial structural characteristics of polder landscape could be divided into six categories: polygon-shaped structure, jaggies-shaped structure, dendritic-shaped structure, feather-shaped structure, cricoid fan-shaped structure, and rectangular-shaped structure. All six landscape structures were formed by the long-term human exploitation of farmland, reflecting different natural and social functions of polder´s construction. Finally, combined with regional environment and historical literature, this paper synthetically analyzed the five main driving factors of this artificial field development.