Analysis of the spatiotemporal distribution characteristics and natural influencing factors of cultural heritage in the Hexi Corridor

The Hexi Corridor is a place where the Central Plains’ agricultural culture and the north’s nomadic culture blend, and it is also a transportation hub of the Silk Road. Reasonable protection and utilization of the cultural heritage resources of the Hexi Corridor are of great significance for delineating the longitude and latitude of civilization and demonstrating cultural confidence. This paper takes the cultural protection unit in the Hexi Corridor as the research sample and explores the spatial and temporal distribution characteristics of the cultural heritage in the Hexi Corridor with the help of spatial analysis technology of ArcGIS and systematic analysis methods such as closest-neighbor index, kernel density, center of gravity model, and standard deviation ellipse, etc., and explores the main driving factors of spatial variations with the help of geodetic detector model. Ten natural factors, such as elevation, slope direction, soil, forest, vegetation, topography, and river network density, were selected to identify their effects and interactions on the spatial distribution of cultrualheritage. The results show that: ① in terms of spatial density, the heritage resources as a whole are "dense in the southeast, sparse in the northwest, small clusters" of spatial distribution characteristics, density of the core area is mainly distributed along the Silk Road. ② In the spatial and temporal distribution characteristics, ancient sites, ancient tombs, buildings, and modern times are clustered in the southeast. In contrast, grotto temples are clustered in the northwest, the heritage of the historical period of cultural protection unit along the northwest-southeast oriented back-and-forth migration. ③ The dominant factors affecting the spatial distribution of cultural protection unit in the Hexi Corridor include three factors, namely, vegetation, topography, and soil subclasses, with two-factor enhancement attributes.