Optimization of water-urban-agricultural-ecological land use pattern: A case study of Guanzhong Basin in the southern Loess Plateau of Shaanxi Province, China

Extensive land use will cause many environmental problems. It is an urgent task to improve land use efficiency and optimize land use patterns. In recent years, due to the flow decrease, the Guanzhong Basin in Shaanxi Province is confronted with the problem of insufficient water resources reserve. Based on the Coupled Ground-Water and Surface-Water Flow Model (GSFLOW), this paper evaluates the response of water resources in the basin to changes in land use patterns, optimizes the land use pattern, improves the ecological and economic benefits, and the efficiency of various spatial development, providing a reference for ecological protection and high-quality development of the Yellow River Basin. The research shows that the land use pattern in the Guanzhong Basin should be further optimized. Under the condition of considering ecological and economic development, the percentage change of the optimum area of farmland, forest, grassland, water area, and urban area compared with the current land use area ratio is +2.3, +2.4, −6.1, +0.2, and +1.6, respectively. The economic and ecological value of land increases by 14.1% and 3.1%, respectively, and the number of water resources can increase by 2.5%.