Saline Soils: A Potentially Significant Geoheritage of the Vojvodina Region, Northern Serbia

Abstract

Halomorphic (or saline) soils, are characterized by high concentrations of soluble salts or sodium, or both. Saline soils have unfavorable agricultural properties but provide the natural habitats for a variety of highly specialized plants, animals, and other organisms. It is these special interactions that create the typical landscape of saline soils, known as “slatina”. The aim of this study is to assess and evaluate the geotouristic potential of six of the most attractive slatina sites in the Vojvodina region, Northern Serbia: Jegrička, Slano Kopovo, Rusanda, Okanj, Pečena slatina, and Pašnjaci Velike Droplje. Overall, all analyzed sites have significant tourism potential, based on both natural and tourist values. In addition to the tourism potentials, analyzed sites have high value as a natural endemic ecosystem inhabited with highly specialized plants and birds.