Abstract: To reveal the settlement growth pattern during  urbanization on regional scale, the relative growth rates (RGRs) and spatial autocorrelations of settlement patches in Suzhou, Wuxi, and Changzhou regions were studied, based on the multitemporal Landsat images acquired in 1979, 1991, 2001, and 2005. In the study regions, the settlements in city and town expanded significantly from 1979 to 2005, with an increase of 11.1 times in area, and went through three transitional phases, i.e., rapid growth (1979-1991), slow growth (1991-2001), and rapid growth (2001-2005), which differed from the economic growth rhythms. A significant positive global spatial autocorrelation in settlement RGR based on Moran’s I index was found in the three phases, indicating that the settlements with similar behaviors tended to be aggregated collectively. The results from local spatial association analysis (Getis-Ord G_i^* index) indicated that there existed several landscape plates, within which, the adjacent settlements manifested coupling behaviors in terms of relatively consistent high or low RGRs. These landscape plates could be changed in size and spatial location in different phases, but as a whole, there existed an eastward shift of growth focus in the study regions in 1979-2005.

Key words: Zinc lignosulfonate, Inorganic Zn fertilizer, Corn