This study takes 9 cities in the Pearl River Delta as the research object. Based on the land use data extracted from three remote sensing images from 1980 to 2015, the spatial and temporal variation characteristics of urban expansion on the Pearl River Delta urban agglomeration scale are quantitatively analyzed by the expansion intensity, expansion rate and landscape pattern index. The research results show that:(1) in terms of the characteristics of urban agglomeration expansion, it is found that the area of urban land in the Pearl River Delta continues to increase. From 1980 to 2015, the urban land area expanded nearly three times. During 1980-2000 and 2000-2015, it expanded by 1513.1 km² and 3043.8 km² respectively; the expansion rate of urban land was significantly accelerated, and the expansion intensity continued to increase. (2) Based on the time scale:in 1980, the Pearl River Delta Urban Agglomeration in Guangzhou as the center of the single core model; after 20 years of Reform and Opening-up, Shenzhen rose in 2000 and formed a dual core development mode with Guangzhou; after 15 years, by 2015, it gradually evolved from the dual core mode to the network and multi center mode, that is, Shenzhen and Dongguan, Guangzhou, and Foshan, Zhongshan and other cities developed together. (3) Through the comparative study on the expansion rate and expansion intensity of the urban built-up areas in the Pearl River Delta, it is found that:Based on the quantitative analysis, the expansion rate of other cities increased except Shenzhen and Zhuhai in 1980-2000 and 2000-2015; The characteristics of spatial distribution show that the cities with rapid expansion are mostly concentrated in the coastal areas where land resources are relatively scarce; the cities with relatively slow expansion are mostly concentrated in the inland areas where land resources are relatively abundant. (4) The analysis of landscape pattern shows that the urban land fragmentation is obvious, the spatial structure tends to be scattered, and the shape tends to be complex. At the same time, it is found that the rapidly expanding cities are more complex in shape and more dispersed in structure, while the slowly expanding cities are more regular in shape and more concentrated in distribution.In a word, the urbanization level can be reflected by studying the characteristics of urban expansion in the Pearl River Delta. Firstly, its natural factors determine the macro pattern of urban expansion. Secondly, policy factors (such as Reform and Opening-up and administrative division), and social-economic development factors (such as high overall level of export-oriented economy and reasonable industrial structure) jointly influence the expansion speed and direction of urban land. This is the main reason for the spatial-temporal difference of urban land expansion in the Pearl River Delta region, but it cannot completely control the development direction of urban land. On the whole, the development model of Pearl River Delta urban agglomeration is the result of many factors such as social, economic, policy and natural traffic conditions. This study provides reference value for improving the planning and management level of urban agglomeration.