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Environmental Hazards and Mud Volcanoes in Romania |
| Romania, an eastern European country, is severely affected by a variety of natural hazards. These include frequent earthquakes, floods, landslides, soil erosion, and drought all of which have major social and economic impacts. Thus, there is a long tradition of study of these hazards by scientific researchers in Romania. This set of slides includes examples of landslides, rockfalls, sheet erosion, and mudflows. |
Slopes affected by reactivation of landslides in eastern Carpathians | |
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Slopes affected by reactivation of landslides in the eastern Carpathians. Landslides occur in colluvial deposits 10-30 meters thick developed on Paleogene flysch. Predominant vegetation on these slopes is beech, Fagus sylvatica. Photo Credit: Dr. Dan Balteanu, Romanian Academy |
Rockfall area on steep slopes in eastern Carparthians | |
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Rockfall area on steep slopes comprising folded and faulted Paleocene sandstones in the Eastern Carparthians. Photo Credit: Dr. Dan Balteanu, Romanian Academy |
Rockfalls in the Buzau Mountains caused by March 1977 earthquakes | |
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Rockfalls in the Buzau Mountains (Eastern Carpathians) resulting from the March 4, 1977, earthquake (M = 7.2). The volume of rock displaced by the earthquake was 20 - 50 times larger than the normal annual volume emanating from the cliffs from other causes. Photo Credit: Dr. Dan Balteanu, Romanian Academy |
Second view of rockfalls in Buzau Mountains | |
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Rockfalls in the Buzau Mountains (Eastern Carpathians) resulting from the March 4, 1977, earthquake (M = 7.2). The volume of rock displaced by the earthquake was 20 - 50 times larger than the normal annual volume emanating from the cliffs from other causes. Photo Credit: Dr. Dan Balteanu, Romanian Academy |
Rock block slide along planar surface in eastern Carpathians | |
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Rock block slide along a planar surface triggered by the March 4, 1977, earthquake in the eastern Carpathians. This slide destroyed houses of the Colti village in the Buzau Mountains. Photo Credit: Dr. Dan Balteanu, Romanian Academy |
Second view of block slide in eastern Carpathians | |
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Rock block slide along a planar surface triggered by the March 4, 1977, earthquake in the eastern Carpathians. This slide destroyed houses of the Colti village in the Buzau Mountains. Photo Credit: Dr. Dan Balteanu, Romanian Academy |
Scarp of slump in Getic Subcarpathians | |
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The scarp of a large slump in the Getic Subcarpathians, reactivated after a long rainy period in June 1982. Photo Credit: Dr. Dan Balteanu, Romanian Academy |
Large landslide that destroyed 30 houses in Subcarpathians | |
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Large complex landslide that destroyed 30 houses in the Tega village in the Buzau Subcarpathians. The landslide was reactivated in March 1973 by increasing water content in colluvial material plus more than 2,000 tons of debris-flow materials flowing onto the slope. Photo Credit: Dr. Dan Balteanu, Romanian Academy |
Second view of landslide that destroyed 30 houses | |
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Large complex landslide that destroyed 30 houses in the Tega village in the Buzau Subcarpathians. The landslide was reactivated in March 1973 by increasing water content in colluvial material plus more than 2,000 tons of debris-flow materials flowing onto the slope. Photo Credit: Dr. Dan Balteanu, Romanian Academy |
Translation landslide that blocked valley in Subcarpathians | |
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Translational landslide about 30-40 meters deep that blocked a valley in March through April, 1973. The slide occurred in Neogene molasses on the southern slope of Blidisel Hill in the Buzau Subcarpathians. The slide was reactivated during the March 4, 1977, earthquake in the Eastern Carpathians. Photo Credit: Dr. Dan Balteanu, Romanian Academy |
Shallow slide topography in the Subcarpathians | |
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Shallow (sheet) slide topography in the Buzau Subcarpathians. The slope is developed on Neogene clays and marls, and is entirely covered with colluvial deposits exhibiting many stages of mass movement. Photo Credit: Dr. Dan Balteanu, Romanian Academy |
Large complex landslide in Subcarpathians | |
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Large complex landslide in the Buzau Subcarpathians showing many features of recent reactivations. Photo Credit: Dr. Dan Balteanu, Romanian Academy |
Landslide study area near Patarlagele Research Station | |
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Landslide study area near Patarlagele Research Station of the Romanian Academy Institute of Geography. Experiments on slope evolution here include photogrammetric measurements continued over a period of 20 - 30 years. Photo Credit: Dr. Dan Balteanu, Romanian Academy |
Mudflow near Panatau village in Subcarrpathians | |
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Mudflow near Panalau village in the Buzau Subcarpathians. The mudflow was triggered by a rainstorm that dropped 177.8 mm of rain on July 2, 1975. The flow track is 425 meters with a gradient of 8 to 12 degrees. The total material displaced was 18,000 cubic meters. Photo Credit: Dr. Dan Balteanu, Romanian Academy |
Sheet erosion, gullies, and landslides | |
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Sheet erosion, gullies, and landslides on an overgrazed slope in the Curvature Subcarpathians. The slope is developed on salted marls and clays. Studies in this region by the Romanian scientist Mrazek (1927) occasioned the first use of the notion of "diapiric folds" in connection with the outcrops of salt and salt breccia. Photo Credit: Dr. Dan Balteanu, Romanian Academy |
Heavily eroded slope in Moldavian Plateau | |
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Slope heavily eroded by discontinuous gullies in the Moldavian Plateau. Development of these gullies is partly related to poor land-use practices, including plowing parallel to the slope rather than plowing along slope contours. Photo Credit: Dr. Dan Balteanu, Romanian Academy |
Head of gully in Moldavian Plateau | |
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Head of a discontinuous gully in the Moldavian Plateau. Photo Credit: Dr. Dan Balteanu, Romanian Academy |
Mud volcano cones in Berca Anticline | |
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Mud volcano cones in the Berca Anticline Depression of the Curvature Subcarpathians. Photo Credit: Dr. Dan Balteanu, Romanian Academy |
Second view of mud volcano cones in Berca Anticline | |
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Mud volcano cones in the Berca Anticline Depression of the Curvature Subcarpathians. Photo Credit: Dr. Dan Balteanu, Romanian Academy |
Oil rich mudflow in Berca Anticline | |
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Mudflow rich in oil on a mud volcano plateau in the Berca Anticline Depression of the Curvature Subcarpathians. Photo Credit: Dr. Dan Balteanu, Romanian Academy |