Abstract
Ground-water table, one of the determinants of land condition in drylands, was surveyed at forty-seven sites in the northern part of Naiman County, Inner Mongolia, China in the early autumn of 1998. The relationship of the observed values and bare land rate around observation site was analyzed. Bare land rate was estimated for a square with 10 km sides around the observation sites using desertification classification map. The effect of land use was considered during analysis. The index of land use was calculated from the rate of cultivated land in each village. If the sites with remarkably intense land use was extracted, bare land rate was higher around the site with deep ground water table over three meters and lower around the site with shallow ground water table under three meters. Finally the land classification map considering ground-water table was developed using the criterion of three meters.
