Badlands and environmental change

Badlands develop in many climatic regions, on a wide range of soils and in various bedrock types. The physical triggers for development of badlands can be natural, such are tectonic activity and climate change, but more frequently they are human induced, e.g. land clearance to change use of land. The research presented here clearly indicates that clay mineralogy and type and amount of clay in the bedrock play a critical role in the development of surface crust and hillslope morphology and ultimately of badlands. Laboratory experiments on smectite-rich samples subjected to simulated rainfall have established a correlation between phased development of surface crust and desiccation cracks and duration of rainfall. A similar correlation could not be found for smectite-poor materials. In addition, evidence was collected on the different responses of smectite-rich and smectite-poor lithologies to wetting and drying periods. Thus, it appears in particular that drying periods play an important role in badland development on smectite-rich materials, an aspect which is directly linked to slope orientation and strongly sensitive to differences that occur with <i>sensu stricto</i> seasonal climatic changes

Sustainable rural development in Serbia - relationship between population dynamicss and environment

In this paper the relationship between populatiOn and the environment, and their influence on rural sustainability in Serbia, using quantitative typology of rural areas will be examined. The typology is based on the net relative change of population in rural areas in Serbia, according to the difference between the number of inhabitants at the end of the studied period (2011) and a hypothetical population that each rural settlement would have if the population in base year (1961) was changed proportionally to the change of total rural population. Research results indicate types of population dynamics of rural areas with different scale and intensity of environmental degradation: progressive type with favorable human and economic potentials, strong urban influence and huge environmental transformation; stagnant type with advanced agricultural and demographic dimension which imposed pressures to the natural environment; regressive type with heterogeneous demographic, social and economic features, and different impacts on natural and social environment, and dominant regressive type of rural areas highly characterised by the deficient in human and economic potential and preserved natural resources. Based on analysed rural particularities it can be concluded that the different human, environmental and economic potentials and obstacles of determined types of rural areas should be the starting point in defining appropriate sustainable strategies and development directions

Possible Sources of Heavy Metals in Urban Soils: Example from Belgrade, Serbia

The content of heavy metals over time has been continuously increasing in urban soils as a consequence of industrialisation and often unclear sets of environmental controls and protection procedures. However, the role of geological parent material as a natural source of heavy metals should not be underestimated. Precise determination of the source of heavy metals in urban soils is a crucial element in remediation process. The aim of this study is to determine the concentrations and main sources of heavy metals in the soils of Belgrade, Serbia. For that purpose, concentrations of heavy metals were determined on 180 samples from 38 locations. Results show that in most tested locations Ni and Pb have higher concentration than permitted by legal norms of Serbia or recommended values by the Dutch list. Peridotites and serpentinites underlying Belgrade soils are the main sources of Ni, while high lead concentrations are the consequence of traffic pollution. Correlations of heavy metal contents further prove these findings: Ni is positively correlated with Cu and Cr, elements associated with ultramaffic rocks, and Pb is positively correlated with Zn, which is also typical for traffic pollution. Our work shows that when identifying the source of heavy metals in urban soils both anthropogenic and natural origins should be taken into consideration

Possible Sources of Heavy Metals in Urban Soils: Example from Belgrade, Serbia

The content of heavy metals over time has been continuously increasing in urban soils as a consequence of industrialisation and often unclear sets of environmental controls and protection procedures. However, the role of geological parent material as a natural source of heavy metals should not be underestimated. Precise determination of the source of heavy metals in urban soils is a crucial element in remediation process. The aim of this study is to determine the concentrations and main sources of heavy metals in the soils of Belgrade, Serbia. For that purpose, concentrations of heavy metals were determined on 180 samples from 38 locations. Results show that in most tested locations Ni and Pb have higher concentration than permitted by legal norms of Serbia or recommended values by the Dutch list. Peridotites and serpentinites underlying Belgrade soils are the main sources of Ni, while high lead concentrations are the consequence of traffic pollution. Correlations of heavy metal contents further prove these findings: Ni is positively correlated with Cu and Cr, elements associated with ultramaffic rocks, and Pb is positively correlated with Zn, which is also typical for traffic pollution. Our work shows that when identifying the source of heavy metals in urban soils both anthropogenic and natural origins should be taken into consideration

Dendrogeomorphology in badlands: Methods, case studies and prospects

Soil and vegetation are interacting factors controlling erosion. Soil degradation processes may affect the normal tree and shrub development and inversely, vegetation can modulate the velocity and intensity of soil development or denudation. A dendrogeomorphological approach can be used to study these interactions, allowing to obtain a date and estimate mean or specific erosion rates. This is especially useful in an unrecorded badlands and gullied environments,where the scarce vegetationmay be the only proxy available to quantify the different geomorphic processes which have occurred. This paper provides a fundamental review of the dendrogeomorphological methodology applied to erosion measurement in badlands. Focusing on the response of the vegetation to the geomorphic processes, this paper: (a) describes themethodology developed to estimate erosion rates with exposed roots; (b) shows newadvances through case studies; and finally, (c) discusses future lines of research to reduce methodological uncertainties and for making dendrogeomorphology more widely applicable