Beciu Mud Pools

The Beciu Mud Pools lie in Buzău County, on a small patch of ground near the Beciu-Arbănași road, in the Subcarpathian Curvature zone. They are one of the four mud-volcano areas of the Buzău Land, alongside Pâclele Mari, Pâclele Mici, and the Berca Mud Pools, all included within the UNESCO Buzău Land Geopark. The phenomenon occurs when gas emanations from deep underground, mainly methane, push groundwater toward the surface. Along the way the water picks up clay from the rocks it passes through, and the resulting salty mud erupts continuously. The gases rise from depths that can exceed 3,000 metres, along faults cutting through the diapiric folds of the Subcarpathians. The difference between cone-building "pâcle" and bubbling pools comes down entirely to the water content of the mud. When the mud is low in water, it turns viscous and sticky, flows poorly, and gradually builds cones. When the mud carries more water, it becomes fluid and can no longer raise structures, forming instead pools that bubble without pause. Local legend holds that the cones were made by dragons and the pools by ogres. Beciu holds the greatest number of mud pools and the most spectacular eruptions in the whole area. The largest erupt every few seconds, and with a little patience one can see the "mud fountains": artesian jets that sometimes reach the height of a person. The explanation lies in the gas concentration of the mud, markedly higher here than at Pâclele Mari or Pâclele Mici. By comparison, the Berca Mud Pools are far smaller, little more than clusters of bubbling mud eyes. The mud volcanoes of the Berca area were identified in 1867 by the French engineer H. Cognand during oil prospecting, and were declared a natural monument in 1924. The landscape shifts continually, depending on how much mud reaches the surface and where the eruptions occur; in the Buzău Land there have been cases of villagers waking to find a mud volcano risen in their yard. Unlike Pâclele Mari and Pâclele Mici, the Beciu Mud Pools charge no admission and have no car park or signage. The pools are visible straight from the road. Beciu is worth visiting precisely for the intensity of its eruptions, rarely matched among European mud volcanoes, and for the chance to watch the phenomenon up close, with no infrastructure standing between the viewer and the ground.