7. Geomorphological Characteristics of Serbia

The main morphological feature in the relief of Serbia is its gradual rise from the Pannonian Plain in the north to the highest parts of the Šar-Prokletije Mountains in the south and southeast. The central part of the territory encompasses the valleys of the Morava and Southern Morava Rivers, which flow from south to north. West of them lies a mountainous region with the Dinaric Mountains as the most exceptional range. The Carpathian-Balkan mountain range in the east undergoes a gradual decrease of elevation, transiting into marginal parts of the Vlaško-Pontian Plain. The relief base is made up of rocks of different age and different origin (sedimentary rocks with Quaternary alluvial and aeolian products as the most widespread and very abundant carbonate rocks), igneous rocks and diverse metamorphic rocks. The relief was formed over a long period of time with significant climate changes that led to alternation of geomorphological processes (aeolian, periglacial and glacial). In the relief of Serbia, depending on the role of geomorphological processes, it is possible to distinguish different genetic morphostructural types of relief that arose under the influence of endogenic forces (tectonic and volcanic) and exogenic processes (recent fluvial-denudation, karstic colluvial and periglacial). Preserved palaeorelief forms that arose during earlier stages of relief formation have been overprinted by recent geomorphological processes (palaeoabrasional, palaeokarstic, palaeoglacial and palaeoaeolian). Anthropogenic influence on relief (active for several centuries) was occasionally high enough to result in complete conversion of natural relief features and appearance of a new category – anthropogenic relief. Diverse lithology, a different tectonic fabric, neotectonic activity and former and recent climate changes are the major factors that have led to the formation of genetically diverse relief types, from different morphostructural relief elements to genetically various exogenic landscapes.