In many Eastern European countries, the standard of living increased as a result of the process of industrialization in the second half of the 20th Century. Consequently, the population in rural areas with small-scale farming decreased due to the availability of employment elsewhere. This directly impacted soil erosion (and thereby sustainability of the land), but the degree and direction are not well known. This study investigates two municipalities within Serbia, their change in population and its impact on land use changes and soil erosion. The standard of living increased after the industrialization process in the 1960s within these municipalities. The erosion potential model is used to calculate gross annual erosion. The changes related to population and arable land in rural settlements are analyzed according to proportional spatial changes. The results show an overall decrease of erosion intensity in the study area. In addition, two basic findings are derived: first, the highest level of human impact on soil is in rural settlements at the lowest elevation zones, where erosion intensity shows the least amount of decrease; and, second, the most intensive depopulation process, recorded in higher elevation zones, indicates a rapid decrease of erosion intensity.

The erosion potential model was applied to estimate the soil erosion status of rural settlements during the years 1971 and 2011. We used univariate and bivariate local Moran’s I indices to detect and visualize the spatial clustering of settlements with respect to changes in erosion intensity and agricultural land use, as well as their mutual spatial correlation. The study area was differentiated into four statistically significant clusters using the calculated bivariate local Moran’s I indices. The statistical analysis examined the two largest clusters, i.e., the high–high and low–low clusters, and the results of the research indicate that the first four principal components explained 70.50% and 73.47% of the total variance, respectively. In the high–high cluster, the low rates of erosion reduction (average Index Z = 98) in the most significant types of rural settlements were determined according to demographic indicators (i.e., the higher population vitality and population density, the smaller share of the old population and the lower average age of the population) and the large proportion of arable land and Neogene sediments. In the low–low cluster, high erosion reduction rates were detected (average index Z = 64). In this cluster, the more statistically significant influence of natural conditions in combination with demographic–agrarian processes (i.e., the larger share of the old population, the higher average age of the population, the lower vitality index and deagrarization) were decisive factors in changing erosion intensity.

One of the biggest problems of environmental protection in Serbia is landfills. It is often a case that the economic interests are predominant in the landfill sitting; thus, most landfills are not located according to standards. This study shows that detailed geological data assets combined with geographical modeling represents a reliable way to define and locate the landfill site. Geological evaluation is discussed in detail with regard to bedrock lithology, quaternary geology, geological structure, hydrogeology, surface runoff patterns, and topography. An approach combining geographical modeling and geology is presented for determining the sites suitable for landfill selection with respect to their geologic favorability. As opposed to numerous research papers on this topic, in the methodological procedure, special importance is devoted to the analysis of the geological criteria. In this way, it is significantly easier to determine the landfill area with the best characteristics due to geological structure and lithology which unequivocally and precisely indicates inadequate territories for candidate sites. The multicriteria decision analysis (MCDA) is based on geological criteria upgraded with road (primary, residential, secondary, and tertiary), settlements network, railway, airport, infrastructure, land use, hypsometry aquifer, wetland, and surface water. The score values are divided into four classes, i.e., restricted areas, suitable but avoid, suitable, and most suitable. Combining geographical modeling with geology led to the recognition of two locations to be most favorable for landfill site located in the most suitable area, which represents 25.3% of the study area.

Upper Cretaceous volcanoclastic-sedimentary formations in the Timok Eruptive Area (eastern Serbia): new biostratigraphic data from planktonic foraminifera: The biostratigraphy of the Upper Cretaceous volcanoclastic-sedimentary formations cropping out in the Timok Eruptive Area of the eastern Serbian Carpatho-Balkanides is presented. Four lithostratigraphic units of formation rank are recognized in the Timok area: Stublica Clastics (Upper Albian/Cenomanian), Oštrelj (Lower Turonian/Santonian), Bor Clastics (Campanian/Maastrichtian) and Bukovo (Campanian/?Maastrichtian). Forty two species of planktonic foraminifera have been determined in the studied area. Eight planktonic foraminiferal zones of Middle Cenomanian through Middle Campanian age have been recognized. These are:Thalmanninella reicheliInterval Zone (Middle Cenomanian),Rotalipora cushmaniTaxon Range Zone (Upper Cenomanian),Helvetoglobotruncana helveticaTaxon Range Zone (Lower Turonian),Marginotruncana sigali-Dicarinella primitivaInterval Zone (Upper Turonian to lowermost Coniacian),Dicarinella concavataInterval Zone (Lower Coniacian to lowermost Santonian),Dicarinella asymetricaTaxon Range Zone (Santonian),Globotruncanita elevataInterval Zone (Lower Campanian) and theGlobotruncana ventricosaInterval Zone (Middle Campanian). The scarcity or lack of zonal species in the Lower Cenomanian and Upper Campanian/Maastrichtian strata prevents recognition of the nominal zones. The Upper Cretaceous planktonic foraminiferal zones from the Timok Eruptive Area are correlated with coeval zones from adjacent regions of Bulgaria and Romania and from other Tethyan regions.