Abstract: Owing to intensified human activities in recent years, oases change rapidly in the major inland river basins in arid Northwest China: the four river basins of Heihe, Shule, Shiyang, and Tarim. Using the 2002-2012 land use data of this region, this paper explores the evolution of the oases in each basin. Results show that in this period, all the oases in the four basins were expanding. The woodland, grassland and waters (WGW) were relatively stable, while the socio-economic land was changing dynamically and significantly. The gravity center of oases was moving downstream in the Heihe River basin while upstream in the Shule River basin. In the transformation between oasis and desert, grassland and woodland contributed more than the other land use types. WGW turning into socio-economic land dominated the transformation between them.

Key words: oasis, human interference, land use change, arid Northwest China