Mud volcanoes - Pâclele Mari and Pâclele Mici

GPS Coordinates:
45.35941 N, 26.71347 E

On Earth there are muddy volcanoes in many places, but in Europe they are very rare. In Romania, they appeared at Homorod, Ocna Sibiului, Bazna, but the most spectacular are at Pâclele Mari and Pâclele Mici in Buzău County, near Berca.

The area was spotted in 1868 by the frenchman H. Cognard on the occasion of oil exploration. The 15-hectare Pâclele Mici is a 1924 natural monument, and the 10 hectares Pâclele Mari of the 1955 Geological Reservoir. (There is no mistake, the names are not consistent with the surfaces).

These mini volcanoes emerge through the rage of the gas that rises from a depth of about 3,000m and passes through a layer of loamy clayey soil. Liquid cloud is pushed to the mouth of the volcanoes, drifts on the slopes and gradually dries. The diameter of the craters can reach 3m and 6m height.

The scenery is beautiful and frightening: a multitude of volcanic cones in which the mud sweeps, sometimes feels like stinking gas, the soil is cracked by the heat of the Sun, in the periods of drought crystallizes and salt and scorpions and termites can be observed.

At the edge of the area grow rare plants. At the Mud Volcanoes, arriving on DN10 (Buzau-Brasov), from Sătuc by Berca- Joseni-Policiori there at right, and at cross, to left are Pâclele Mari (45.359405, 26.714532) and to right Pâclele Mici. (45.347290, 26.709576)

At the end we show you some beautiful aerial photos.

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