THE MUD VOLCANOES FROM BERCA: A SIGNIFICANT GEOLOGICAL PATRIMONY SITE OF THE BUZĂU LAND GEOPARK (ROMANIA)

Abstract. The mud volcanoes from the Berca region of the Buzău County are the most representative sites of mud volcanoes in Romania, and one of the most significant geological sites of the Buzău Land Geopark. These mud volcanoes occur on an anticline situated in the inner extremity of the Foreland zone of the Eastern Carpathians. The ocurrence of this phenomenon is linked, as in other world regions, to the highly developed diapirisim of the area; mud migrates at the surface throughout faulted flanks of the anticline, from Middle Miocene deposits at a depth of around 3,000 m. Two sites of the Berca area, namely Pâclele Mari and Pâclele Mici, have been studied in detail, by field observation and GPS surveys. This paper presents data on the geology of the region, the geochemistry of the ejected fluids (most synthesizing previous data), as well as the morphology of the mud volcanoes, which show various sizes and shapes evidenced by our investigation on over 100 such structures