Berca Muddy Volcanos
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The Berca Muddy Volcanos are a geological and botanical reservation located in the Berca commune in the Buzău County in Romania. Its most spectacular feature is the muddy volcanos, some small (a few meters high) volcano-shaped structures caused by the eruption of natural gasses.
[edit] The geological phenomenon
As the gasses erupt from 3000 meters-deep towards the surface, through the underground layers of clay and water, they push up underground salty water and mud, so that they overflow through the mouths of the volcanos, while the gas emerges as bubbles. The mud dries off at the surface, creating a realatively solid conical structure, resembling a real volcano. The mud expelled by them is cold, as it comes from inside the Earth's continental crust layers, and not from the mantle.
The reservation is unique in Europe, with similar phenomena being observed in Siberia and Australia.
[edit] Flora
The muddy volcanos create a strange lunar landscape, due to the absence of vegetation around the cones. Vegetation is scarce because the soil is very salty, an environmental condition in which few plants can survive. However, this kind of environment is good for some rare species of plants, such as Nitraria schoberi and Obione verrucifera.
The phenomenon can be observed on two separate locations near the Berca commune, dubbed the Little Muddy Vulcanos and The Big Muddy Vulcanos.
[edit] Gallery
 Little Muddy Vulcanos View |
 Little Muddy Vulcanos (view from the base) |
 The biggest muddy vulcano from Little Muddy Vulcanos location |
 a small but active muddy vulcano |
 Vegatation at the base of the muddy vulcanos |
 Muddy Vulcanos View |
 Mud flowing from the Muddy Vulcanos |
 A bubble of gas bursting through the mouth of a Muddy Vulcano |
 Muddy Vulcanos View |
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