Interaction of terrain and civil engineering building in Belgrade urban area

Belgrade is situated in southeastern part of the Pannonian Basin. This area consists of two types of relief with different geological structures separated by the Sava and Danube (Dunav) rivers. The higher part comprises the Quaternary, Neogene, Cretaceous, and other older formations. Under Quaternary layers, Neogene sediments, that is Miocene clays and marls most frequently appear. The lower zone is a part of the large Pannonian Sea flats. According to geotechnical properties, the urbanized terrain in the Belgrade area can be grouped into several typical microlocations: the Sava River slopes of the Terazije terrace (predominantly clay), the New Belgrade (sand), and the Zemun plateau (loess). Extensive geotechnical investigations have been carried out in the last 50 years on most of typical urban soils within the city. Based on results of these efforts, as they relate to identification and classification of soils and their strength characteristics, it is possible today to successfully predict the expected interaction between the terrain and civil engineering structures.