Abstract: With the whole Qinghai-Tibet railway line opening to traffic, aeolian hazards have been one of the main environmental problems threatening its safe operation. Aeolian hazards along this railway line mainly distribute at the sections of the Cuona Lake, Tuotuo River and Beilu River. Based on the data of QuickBird high-resolution satellite images and field observation and meanwhile consulting data of Google Earth images and DEM, this paper drew a thematic map of aeolian geomorphology of three typical sections with aeolian hazards along this railway line. This map was in a scale of 1:50000 and employed a two-level classification system, including 6 first-grade and 18 second-grade categories. The Qinghai-Tibet railway is located in the central section of westerlies jet stream where wind power is very strong. Meanwhile, the fragile ecological environment, complex landscape and the temporal and spatial interaction between freeze thawing and wind erosion produce abundant sand supply here, and thus the movement of sand drift is strong and frequent, making the increasing of aeolian hazards along this railway line. Therefore, it is necessary to draw this thematic map containing the distribution of aeolian hazards and their control measures, providing the theoretical reference for the construction of the integrative blown sand control system along this railway line. Aeolian-deposition landform and sand-controlling methods are key elements manifested in the thematic map. This thematic map will be used for evaluating the degree of sand damage, predicting the trend of sand activities and establishing an integrative sand-controlling system along the Qinghai-Tibet railway. The goal of the thematic maps is to reflect the characteristics of sand damage along the Qinghai-Tibet railway, and to provide rich information for studying Aeolian landforms.

Key words: Qinghai-Tibet railway, aeolian geomorphology, thematic map, mapping technology