Mud Volcanoes
By Diana Ungureanu/ Chisinau / Moldova. ORG/ -- If you cannot imagine that the mud could be nice, even fascinating, then you should go in Buzau region, in the towns Berca and Scortoasa to convince you about it.
The show that mud volcanoes from this zone give you is amazing. Miniature craters in which the mud bubbles and explode in grey dirty rivers that flow down the hill, the arid soil, which is so lifeless and deep cracks – this is the landscape that overwhelms your eyes when you arrive here.
The phenomenon of mud volcanism is splendid and the through the performance it offers and the lunar landscape that is created. This type of volcanoes is the result of gas fumes from the depths of 3000 m, which contacted with surface phreatic waters and with clay soil and formed craters filled with mud.
The soil around the craters is dry, sulfur and extremely salty, but is not entirely devoid of vegetation. Here it can be seen some plants that adapted to this environment, so they are unique in Romania.
You can easily go to volcanoes by car; the signs will guide your steps (or wheels) to the “mud volcanoes”, which cover an area of 30 ha and is a unique phenomenon in Romania and a rare one in the world.
In Buzau there are 2 landscapes with mud volcanoes: Small Fogs and Great Fogs. The Small Fogs are a reservation extended on an area of 9.4 ha and since 1924 is under state protection.
The Great Fogs cover an area of 19.6 ha and its name due to very large dimensions of the three main volcanoes (a diameter about 100 m). In the village Beciu, there is a crater of 2.5 m that “boils” because of the gas emanation. Even if the bubbling and boiling volcanoes makes you think about high temperatures, touching the mud craters you will be amazed that it is cold.
If you fancy some volcanoes and a sea of mud, which I don’t advise you to do wrap, you can visit these natural reservations near the zone of Buzau, especially because they are not far from Chisinau (365 km).
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