GIS analysis of dissipation time of landscape in the Devil's city (Serbia)

Abstract

The Devil's City is a unique geomorphological site well known regarding strangely sculptured stony pillars or soil (clayey) pyramids, abandoned mines and two rare hydrologic occurrences. The present landscape is partly inherited from the paleo-volcanic topography and shaped afterwards by erosion, particularly linear erosion. Soil pyramids owe their origin to the differential erosion of a more compact andesitic level on less cohesive pyroclastic material and disintegrate relatively quickly when they lose their protective "cap". The pyramids are located along the two gullies, Devil's and Hell's. In the latter, also known as "The young Devil's City" the erosion process is in the beginning. The results of combined petrological and geomorphological studies permitted us to reconstruct past geological processes and predict the future evolution of the Devil's City. Geographic information system (GIS) and digital topographic modeling are becoming powerful tools not only in geographic sciences but also in geomorphological and geological modeling.