Abstract: Taking Xundian County of Yunnan Province as an example, and using the spatial autocorrelation analysis method, the vertical distribution characteristics of eight land use types were studied. The results showed that the eight land use types had strong spatial autocorrelation on the vertical scale, and the distribution was not uniform in the 15 elevation gradients. The number of land use types increased first and then decreased gradually with the elevation rising, and there were differences in the land use structure in the 15 elevation gradients. The eight land use types showed a spatial correlation in the vertical direction, and the spatial autocorrelation of other land use was the highest, followed by garden land, forest land, mining and storage land, farmland, construction land, water area and water conservancy facility land, and grassland had the lowest spatial autocorrelation.

Key words: Wumeng Mountain area, land use, spatial autocorrelation, elevation gradients, Xundian County