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.
As the gasses erupt towards the surface, they push up underground salty water and mud, so that it overflows 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 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 reservation is unique in Europe, with similar phenomena being observed in Siberia and Australia.
There are two location near Berca city, the Little Muddy Vulcanos and Big Muddy Vulcanos.
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