Berca Muddy Volcanos

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.

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 it 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 underground.

The reservation is unique in Europe, with similar phenomena being observed in Siberia and Australia.

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.