A preliminary approach on the 3D presentation and quantitative analysis of planation surface

Planation Surface is one of the very important issues in the field of current geomorphology, and plays a major role for reconstructing the evolutional history of land from in a region. By using remote sensing and geographical information systems, this article discussed the creation of the Digital Elevation Model (DEM) of the Meiwu Plateau, at the south of Lanzhou and the northeastern margin of the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau, and the integration of both DEM and Landsat TM images. Then the characteristics of 3D Geomorphological Imagery of the Meiwu Plateau were discussed, and the topographic profiles at several parts of the DEM were got. On the basis of analyzing the system of geomorphological parameters on the planation surface, the exact extent of the planation surface on the Meiwu Plateau was got by using the supervised classification technique in the field of image processing. The great potential of this technique was discovered on the analysis of planation.