Geomorphological Processes at the Industrial Sludge Landfill in Sered, Slovakia

The principal aim of the study is to identify the nature and causes of changes to the surface of a landfill body of waste from nickel production located in the industrial zone of the town of Sereď (Slovak Republic). This change is related to natural and anthropogenic geomorphological processes characteristic of the temperate zone of the northern hemisphere. The landfill is an accumulative anthropogenic form of relief, and its body is composed from an artefact-metallurgical sludge, which has specific properties. The landfill constitutes a strange shape of relief at the Danubian Plane, which attracts attention with its physiognomy and also with the black color of the material significantly. It formed during the 30-year-long existence of the nickel smelter plant (1963–1993) and remained in this location, until the present day, for another 28 years after the end of production. Since 1994, the landfill has been the property of a private company that mines sludge in order to obtain residual metals.