Abstract: Based on land use datasets available since the late 1980s till 2015 of Xinjiang (one component of the Chinese National Land Use Datasets, NLUD), aiming at examining the expansion of both cultivated and construction land, this paper extracted its patches from the dynamic land use datasets and analyzed their different patterns and characteristics at different spatial scales over the past 35 years. The results show as follows: (1) The spatial and temporal pattern disparities between Northern and Southern Xinjiang were obvious. Continual increase, the southern Xinjiang expanding faster than the Northern, the southwestward moving of the gravity center were the main characteristics of the expansion of the cultivated land in Xinjiang. The accelerated increase, the Northern Xinjiang growing faster than the Southern, urban sprawl as the principal cause were the characteristics of construction land expansion. Moreover, it had been found that the cultivated land area gap between the Southern and Northern Xinjiang was gradually narrowing, whereas the construction land area gap between them was enlarging. (2) After comparing the quantity and the trend differences of cultivated and construction land expansion between 10 oasis units at 4 stages, the expansion mode of construction land was grouped into three categories namely the exponential type, the bimodal type, and the phased exploration type; the cultivated land expansion mode was grouped into four categories, namely the exponential rising type, the bimodal type, the gentle falling-steep rising type, and the deceleration type. (3)The discrepanciesin terms of the characteristic of both cultivated and construction land expansion type in different oasis units were significant. For the northern oasis units, apart from the Altay region, all other oasis units of Northern Xinjiang had a declining trend with regard to the cultivated land expansion area. However, the construction land of all oasis units in Northern Xinjiang was under a continuously accelerated expansion, especially the Mt. Tianshan oasis unit. For the southern oasis units, the cultivated land showed a vast expansion scale, while the construction land occupied a relatively small increment scale. This paper made an overall review of the expansion characteristics of both cultivated and construction land of Xinjiang since the 1980s which can provide a useful reference for the development and management of the land resources in the future.

Key words: land use change, cultivated and construction land, expansion mode, Xinjiang