Figure 1

Maps of the study area showing the terrain (a), and the southern and northern slopes of Mt. Qomolangma determined by using three division methods: (b) ridgeline method, (c) sample transect method and (d) sector methodZ"

Figure 2

Schematic showing the terminology used to describe the altitudinal distributions of land cover types"

Figure 3

Schematic showing the vertical distributions of compound dominant land cover types (from left to right: cropland-forest dominant belt, forest-cropland dominant belt, forest dominant belt, forest-cropland dominant belt, cropland-forest dominant belt, and cropland dominant belt)"

Table 1

Areas and proportions of different land cover types on the northern and southern slopes"

Figure 4

Altitudinal distributions of different land cover types on the southern and northern slopes based on the three slope division methods: (a) sector method; (b) MM sample transect method; (c) MQ sample transect method; (d) MC sample transect method; and (e) ridgeline method"

Table 2

Altitudinal distributions of different land cover types on the northern and southern slopes based on different slope division methods"

Figure 5

Distributions and compositions of different land cover types in different vertical zones on the northern and southern slopes based on different slope division methods: (a) southern slope, sector method; (b) northern slope, sector method; (c) southern slope, MM sample transect method; (d) northern slope, MM sample transect method; (e) southern slope, MC sample transect method; (f) northern slope, MC sample transect method; (g) southern slope, MQ sample transect method; (h) northern slope, MQ sample transect method; (i) southern slope, ridgeline method; and (j) northern slope, ridgeline method"

Figure 6

Dominant altitudinal band structures of land cover types on the southern and northern slopes of the KRB based on different slope division methods: (a) sector method; (b) sample transect method with MQ, MC, and MM transects; and (c) ridgeline method. For the ridgeline method, both the southern and northern slopes contain unique distribution types in the two directions, which increase the uncertainty in the results. Therefore, the vertical zonation of land cover based on the ridgeline method is not discussed in this paper. Note: code representation in legend: 1-cropland, 2-forest, 3-shrubland, 4-grassland, 5-sparse vegetation, 6-bare land, 7-waterbody, 8-glacier/snow cover, 9-none"

Table 3

Comparison of the altitudinal distributions of land cover, climate, and soil on the southern and northern slopes of Mt. Qomolangma"

Table 4

Comparison of the vertical distributions between land cover types and vegetation on the slopes of Mt. Qomolangma"