Background Research on spatiotemporal land use variation characteristics carries great significance to capture the land resource deployment orientation and the impact degree on ecological environment.

Methods Relying on the land use dynamic degree model and geographic information mapping theory, this paper investigates the characteristics of spatial and temporal variations on land use and the causes of mapping changes in two sequential cells from 2009-2013 and 2013-2018 in Mengyin County.

Results 1) The land use structure for the study area was dominated by arable land and orchard land, representing over 56% of the total land area, with forest land being the second largest. During the decade, the decrease rate of land use quantity exhibited grassland > forest land > arable land, and the increase rate presented construction land > traffic land > water area > orchard land. 2) There were significant discrepancies in the type, quantity and area of major mapping units in both sequential cells. The mapping characteristics from 2009 to 2013 primarily featured the interchange of forest land and arable land, and the conversion of arable land into construction land, occupying 71.01% of the changed area. Spatially, the most significant patterns were found in forest land → arable land and arable land → construction land. From 2013 to 2018, the mapping was primarily characterized by the occupation and replenishment of arable land by construction land, the conversion of arable land to forest land, and the occupation of grassland by construction land, with an accumulated conversion ratio of 59.80%. In terms of space, the most significant were observed in arable land → construction land and arable land → forest land. 3) The pattern of arable land use change in the study area was predominantly prophase change and anaphase change, constituting 95.98% of its changing pattern; the pattern of forest land change was dominated by prophase change, accounting for 74.01%.

Conclusions Significant discrepancies in the rate of land use change were identified over a 10-year period in Mengyin County. From 2009 to 2013, forest land declined and construction land expanded; from 2013 to 2018, there was a significant shrinkage of arable land, with a further expansion of construction land.