Study of the Relationship between Landuse Change and Topographic Parameters in Mashhad in GIS Environment

Detection of land change during time series is very important for making optimal decisions about land management through understanding the interactions between human and natural phenomena. In this study, changes in landuse in Mashhad and their relation with topographic conditions were investigated using the Landsat images of 1987, 2001 and 2014.
Landuse map was created using visual interpretation method with six classes including bare lands, dry lands, forest, irrigated farming lands, range lands and urban lands. Finally, the relation of landuse changes with topographic components (elevation, slope, and aspect) was studied.
Findings: Results showed that area of urban, forest and bare landuses is increased and area of dry, irrigated farming and range landuses is decreased during the study period. Greatest landuse change was from irrigated farming to dry farming lands, which was about 37702.75 ha. Mashhad urban area has been expanded about 16754 ha in the studied 27-year period, most which happened in locations with 800-1600 m of elevation, 8-12% slope and located in northern and eastern aspects.
The obtained results can be used as a useful mean for managing the regions disposed to landuse change and provide the planners with suitable view to manage the landuse and future development plans.