Geomorphology is a scientific discipline concerned with the research of relief. The term relief refers to forms on the surface of the Earth that are created and changed under the influence of the internal and external forces of the Earth, both in the geological past and the contemporary period. In other words, the relief is formed over time by the influence of tectonic and magmatic movements and external agents (water movement, temperature change, ice, wind, life forms) on the bedrock.

The beginning of development of geomorphology as a scientific discipline in Serbia was in the late 19th century, although geomorphological contents could previously been found in the travelogues and various geographical surveys. It is believed that the modern relief of Serbia originated during the neotectonic period, roughly from the Miocene to the present, that is, in the last 23 million years. Over this long period of time there had also been developed and redeveloped forms that in contemporary conditions have the properties of fossil, relict and recent relief.

The largest relief on the territory of Serbia had been formed within the large-scale geotectonic units of the Dinarides, the Vardar zone, the Serbian-Macedonian mass, the Carpatho-Balkanides, the Pannonian basin and on the outskirts of the Valachian-Pontic basin in the east of Serbia.

The highest point in Serbia is the peak of Đeravica (2656 m) on Prokletije Mt., and the lowest point is the mouth of the Great Timok in the Danube at 28 m of altitude (It is interesting that, actually, the lowest point of Serbia is 21 m above sea level on the land mine of Drmno within the anthropogenic relief).

Contemporary active, external processes affecting the relief of Serbia can be classified into four groups:

Slope processes (diluvial, proluvial and colluvial) Fluvial process (linear impact of water movement) Karst process (dissolution of soluble rocks such as limestone) Periglacial process (seasonal freezing of the bedrock)

The eluvial process can conditionally be added to these processes. It forms a loose substrate (loose soil) that can be affected by geomorphological processes. The activity of contemporary, but also relict processes, such as abrasion of the sea-lake basins of the Neogene, glacial process during the Pleistocene or old tectonic and magmatic movements, has formed representative forms of relief, the most significant of which have been selected in the Inventory of Geomorphological Heritage of Serbia (2005).

In the Inventory of Geoheritage Sites of Serbia, within the list of sites of geomorphological heritage, 152 forms are selected, precisely in the group of karst landforms there are 48 of them, in the fluvial landforms (48), erosion landforms (11), eolian landforms (7), Paleovolcanic landforms (11), glacial landforms (21) and periglacial landforms (6). The evaluation of geomorphological heritage of Serbia was also carried out for the purpose of the Inventory.