The Devil’s Town digital geomorphological Inventory

Abstract

The Devil’s town site represents a specific geomorphological phenomenon in southern Serbia, consisting of over 200 pyramidal or columnar forms, carved into soft volcaniclastic material by selective erosion. As a part of the “DEMONITOR” project of the Science Fund of the Republic of Serbia, photogrammetric imaging of the site was conducted to produce a digital geomorphological inventory of the Devil's town with the latest state of the erosion forms, which will serve as a basis for further monitoring of the dynamics of the process and forecasting its development in the future. Associated point cloud with sufficient level of detail, with 2 cm spatial resolution was used for direct counting and measuring of forms. А total of 209 forms are identified, of which 158 are single, 36 forked/double, and 15 of composite shape (containing 3 or more forms). The average height of the form is 4,1 m, and the middle width is 1,3 m. The largest measured height of a form is 15.1 m, and its width is 4.15 m. Of the total of 209 forms, 92 have an andesite cap on top, and 117 are cap-free. Earlier research reported similar findings, but this is the first public and interactive inventory wherein the basic information is available for each form. It is planned to annually update the inventory during the course of the project, but also upon its completion, so that it could be used for change detection and potentially for updating and producing touristic guides and brochures.