Abstract: Based on the detailed survey data of land use change during the period from 1975 to 2005, this paper analyzed quantitatively the static structure, dynamic change and main driving forces of land use change in Maqu County in southeast Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. The results show that the area of forests and waters in Maqu County was reduced with the economic development and accelerated urbanization during the period of 1975-2005, the area of grasslands and land for urban expansion, rural construction and for expansion and construction of industrial, mineral and residential areas was enlarged, the information entropy of land use structure was holistically decreased, and the dominance value was gradually expanded. The integrated index of land use degree was increased by 0.076 5 during the period of 1975-1995, but it was decreased by 0.709 2 during the period of 1995-2005, these reveal that the land use degree was in development during the period of 1975-1995 but in a declining trend during the period of 1995-2005. According to the land use change characteristics of entropy, the GM (1, 1) model of grey theory was used to predict that the land use degree in Maqu County is in regulation during the period from 2006 to 2015.

Key words: land use change, driving factors, GM (1, 1) model, Maqu County