Quaternary International 357 (2015) 58e69

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Quaternary International
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/quaint

Contributions to the knowledge of Quaternary formations in the

southwest Romanian Plain
Petru Enciu*, Dan Balteanu, Cristina Dumitrica
Institute of Geography, Romanian Academy of Sciences, Romania

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The processing of geological information obtained from some 1055 wells drilled in the southwestern
Available online 14 October 2014 Romanian Plain over an area of about 5200 km2 has led to a better understanding of the structure and
stratigraphy of Quaternary formations. The bending of the Danube River southwestwards and then
Keywords: westwards, between the Iron Gate Gorge and Brza Palanka, as well as the unbraiding at Ostrovul Corbului
Romanian plain (Batoti) and 20 km farther downstream, at Ostrovu Mare (Gogosu), are the result of major trans-
Quaternary stratigraphy
extensional movements of compartments buried west of the Timok fault, broken mainly from south to
Aeolian Formation
north due to the compression of the Southwestern Carpathians at the contact with the Moesian Platform.
Danube Formation
Pliocene
The morphostratigraphy of the Lower Member of the Danube Formation alluvia (Lower Pleistocene)
deposited by the Danube and its tributaries on the High Fields of the Romanian Plain (250e110 m
altitude) and of the Upper Member of the Danube Formation alluvia, of Middle PleistoceneeHolocene
age (170e20 m elevation, with 5e8 layers of terrace alluvia and a present-day floodplain) is partially
elucidated. This is due to the existence of active earthquake-affected faults, involving unequal move-
ments of alluvial layers. The 5e8 stepped fluvial terraces and floodplain relief is blanketed by the Aeolian
Formation (up to 35 m thick in the High Plains and between 20 and 25 m-thick over the old terraces).
Zoning the alluvial thickness of the Upper Member of the Danube Formation, omnipresent in the
Lower Danube Valley, reveals the dominance (69.3%) of the 5e10 m and 10e15 m ranges. Terrace and
floodplain alluvia are 15e20 m, 20e25 m and 25e30 m-thick on about 20.5% of the studied area: (i) near
Miro
c Tableland, on the subsiding sectors divided by faults (ii) stacked alluvial sequences) and (iii) at the
confluence of the Blahnita and the Drincea rivers with the Danube Valley (3 stacked alluvial sequences).
© 2014 Elsevier Ltd and INQUA. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction (250e110 m elevation) with outcrops in the Upper Miocene-

Knowledge of the geological structure underlying the stratig-
raphy of Quaternary formations within the first 50 m depth of the
Romanian Plain is of major importance for a better understanding
of natural resources and environmental hazards. The investigated
area covers southwest Romania, well-known for agriculture (Fig. 1).
Geographically, this region corresponds to the western part of
Lower Danube Valley subunit, namely the Danube terraces and
floodplain (170e20 m elevation), about 300 km long between
Batoti Commune in the west (14 km south of Drobeta Turnu
Severin) and Turnu Magurele in the east (at the confluence of the
Danube with the Olt). This study targeted also portions of the
surrounding Balacita, Salcuta and Leu-Rotunda High Plains
* Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: geoinst@rnc.ro, petru_enciu@yahoo.com (P. Enciu).
Pliocene formations covered by coarse and sorted alluvia (~25 m-
thick) deposited by the Danube and its tributaries in the first part of
the Lower Pleistocene (the Lower Member of the Danube Forma-
tion, 2.6e0.8 Ma).
The current conceptual model of the Lower Danube Valley
Quaternary Stratigraphy, illustrated on the Geological Map of
Romania scale 1:200,000, dates from the 1970s. As far as
geographical research is concerned, the first reference papers on
the Iron Gate Gorge (Cviji
c, 1908; Dimitrescu-Aldem, 1911) and on
the Oltenia Plain (Va^lsan, 1915; Popescu-Voiteşti, 1925) were pub-
lished at the beginning of the 20th century.
After World War II, new and significant investigations focused
on the geomorphology of the surrounding Getic Piedmont
(Mihailescu, 1947; Stroe, 2003) and the western part of the Lower
Danube Valley (Coteţ, 1957; Oancea et al., 1967; Badea and Coteţ,
1969; Badea et al., 1969; Posea et al., 2005). Geological research
after World War II, more precisely the boreholes drilled in the

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2014.09.048
1040-6182/© 2014 Elsevier Ltd and INQUA. All rights reserved.
 P. Enciu et al. / Quaternary International 357 (2015) 58e69 59

Fig. 1. Main geomorphological subunits and the location of the study area. a) on the High Plain: I. Balacita Plain; II. Salcuta Plain; III. Leu-Rotunda Plain; b) in the Lower Danube
Valley: IV. Jiana Plain; V. Punghina Plain; VI. Bailesti Plain; VII. Segarcea Plain; VIII. Dabuleni Plain; IX. Danube Floodplain; X. Jiu Floodplain; b) on the righthandside of the Danube
River: XI. Miroc Tableland; XII. Prebalkan Tableland.

south-western Romanian Plain, were aimed at investigating the
terrain's Pliocene-Quaternary paleontology and stratigraphy (e.g.
Liteanu, 1955; Liteanu and Bandrabur, 1957; Stoian, 1959;
Bandrabur et al., 1963; Ghenea et al., 1963; Schoverth et al., 1963).
The results were published by the Geological Institute of Romania
in the Geological Map scale 1: 200,000, sheets “Turnu Severin”
(Savu et al., 1966), “Calafat-Bechet” (Mihaila and Patrulius, 1966),
“Turnu Magurele” (Bandrabur et al., 1966) and “Craiova” (Mihaila
et al., 1968).
Information on the surrounding Miro
c and Prebalkan Tablelands
were published in the Donji Milanova
c, Turnu Severin and Negotin
sheets of the Geological Map of Serbia, scale 1:100,000 (Doli
c and
Raki
c, 1974; Bogdanovi
c et al., 1978a, 1978b) and later on, in the
Bregovo, Vidin and Lom sheets of the Geological Map of Bulgaria,
scale 1:100,000 (Filipov et al., 1988, 1990, 1992). Subsequently, one
collection of papers dedicated to the geology of the Iron Gate area
was published (Knezevi
c, 1997; Marovi
c et al., 1997; Raki

c and
Simonovi
c, 1997).

Fig. 2. Stratigraphic chart of the study area.

60 P. Enciu et al. / Quaternary International 357 (2015) 58e69
2. Regional setting
2.1. Geomorphological issues
In this section, the morphogenetic model of the Danube Gorge
terraces, at some distance farther west is discussed in brief. This
model, devised by Cviji
c in 1908, was later revised by a group of
geomorphologists from the University of Bucharest (Posea et al.,
1963), and then by specialists from the Institute of Geography of
the Romanian Academy (Niculescu and Sencu, 1969). According to
the last paper, the Danube Gorge has a Pontian valley floor at
260e320 m relative altitude (r.a.), the “Sip” terrace t7 at 200e210 m
r.a., “Brza” terrace t6 at 150e160 m r.a., “Klju
c” terrace t5 at
90e115 m r.a., “Kosovi
ca” terrace t4 at 60e80 m r.a., “Turnu” terrace
t3 at 30e50 m r.a., “Kladovo” terrace t2 at 10e20 m r.a., and the
lower terrace (t1) at 6e8 m r.a. Between the Danube to the west and
the River Olt to the east, the left hand side of the Lower Danube
Valley includes the Jiana, Punghina, Bailesti, Segarcea and Dabuleni
Plain subunits, with the Blahnita, Drincea, Desnatui and Jiu streams
acting as dividing boundaries (Fig. 1; Posea and Badea, 1984).
In Romanian geosciences, the number of terraces in the studied
area is highly debatable because, after deposition, the Danube
terrace alluvia were overlain by 30 m-thick wind-borne aeolian
clayey silts and sands from the Danube, Jiu and Olt floodplains in
the west and the south (Fig. 4). Not all geomorphological and
geological schools entirely agree on the number of terraces. The
Geological Map of Romania, scale 1: 200,000, displays five such
levels (Savu et al., 1966; Mihail
a et al., 1968). The Geomorphological
Map of Romania, scale 1: 1 million, shows eight terrace levels
(Badea et al., 1976).
2.2. Pre-Quaternary formations
From a geological point of view, the studied area occupies the
westernmost part of the Moesian Platform (Sandulescu, 1984;
Visarion et al., 1988). The sedimentary cover of the Moesian Plat-
form includes four major sequences, deposited as follows: the first,
about 5.5 km thick, in the Paleozoic, the second one, some 5 km
Fig. 3. a e Geological cross-section between the Salcuta High Plain and the Danube River. b e General legend of the geological cross-sections.
thick in the PermianeTriassic, the third one, about 3.5 km thick, in
the Liassic-Late Cretaceous, and the last one, up to 2 km, in the
Middle Miocene (Badenian)-Holocene (Pauliuc et al., 1979;
Tara
poanca , 2004).
In the studied area, outcrops occur only in the Uppermost
Miocene (Pontian)-Holocene formations. In terms of lithology,
Pontian deposits consist of coarse-to-fine detrital rocks (sands,
siltic clays, clays, marly clays). Recent investigations, conducted at
the outflow of the Danube from the Iron Gate Gorge, suggest that
the first Danube delta was built at the beginning of the Meotian
(Leever, 2007; Leever et al., 2010) or Late Pontian (Popescu-Suc,
2001; Clauzon et al., 2005). Around Drobeta Turnu-Severin Town,
Pontian rocks, accumulated in a deltaic environment, contain
gravels and sands with oblique cross-bedding. These rocks are
attributed to the Cartojani Formation (Figs. 3 and 8). Farther to the
south, on the same western margin of the Dacian Basin, Pontian
deposits consist of some 150 m-thick siltstones with sand in-
tercalations, rich in brackish water fauna and riparian forest flora
(Acer, Betula, Castanea, Fagus, Laurus, Oreodaphe, Platanus, Zelkova;
Krsti
c et al., 1997). The rocks strike NeS and dip 10e15
to the east.
To the southeast, in Bulgaria in the Arciar, Skomlia, Lom and
Ogosta valleys, Pontian rocks consist of sands with clay in-
tercalations (80e100 m, Arciar Formation; Filipov et al., 1988, 1990).
At Dolni Ciba r (10 km south of the Danube) and Hajredin (20 km
south of the Danube), specimens of Tetralophodon longirostris
Kaüper, Trilophodon longirostris Kaüper, Hipparion mediterraneum
Gervais, Dicerorhinus schleirmacheri Kaüper and Anancus arvernesis
have been identified in the Pontian-Dacian rocks (Evloghiev et al.,
1995; Evloghiev and Enciu, 2001). On the present territory of
Romania, offshore of the Dacian Basin, siltstones and clays (Figs. 3
and 8) prevail (Caladacna dv. sp., Pseudocatillus dv. sp., Pontalmyra
dv. sp. a.o. (Bandrabur, 1971; Enciu and Andreescu, 1990).
The Dacian stage (~4.9e4.1 Ma, Fig. 2) was defined by Teisseyre
in the guidebook to the 3rd International Oil Congress held in
Bucharest (1907). During the first part of the Dacian, sedimentation
in the westernmost part of the Dacian Basin took place in the
littoral-lacustrine environment, with the accumulation of fairly
widespread sheets of sands, replaced at the mouths of the main
 P. Enciu et al. / Quaternary International 357 (2015) 58e69 61

Fig. 3. (continued).

rivers (Motru, Cosustea, Danube, Timok, Lom) by deltaic deposits of
gravel and sand (the Berbeşti Formation; defined by Andreescu
et al., 1985; Andreescu et al., 2012; symbol dc1 in Figs. 3 and 8).
Gravels (up to 53%) with sands, belonging to the first delta of the
Danube are exposed along the left hand side bank of the river,
extending about 20 km between Erghevita and Hinova (Enciu,
2009).
During the Late Dacian, as the western Dacian Basin was being
silted, swampy forests were extending over a significant part of that
territory. During the Early Romanian interval (Siensian, 4.1e3.7
Ma), the region appeared as a riverine boggy plain environment,
with clayey sand and coal deposits (the clayey-coaly member of the
JiueMotru Formation, Andreescu et al., 1985; symbol dc2-ro)
accumulating. Subsequently, in the Middle and Late Romanian
(3.7e2.6 Ma), an alluvial plain environment including lakes formed
by major floods, developed (Jipa, 2009; Jipa and Olariu, 2013). As a
result, the second part of the JiueMotru Formation (thick layers of
pebbles with sands, sands, clays, thin coal layers) accumulated. The
stratigraphic level of the Late Romanian contains an association
with Mammuthus rumanus (Ştefa nescu), Zygolophodon borsoni
Hays, Anancus arvernensis Crois. et Job., Dicerorhinus elatus Falconer,
Dicerorhinus etruscus Falconer and Metacervoceros pardinenisis
(Athanasiu, 1907, 1908; Schoverth et al., 1963).
As boggy, river and subaerial environments prevailed in the
Dacian Basin since the Romanian stage, mollusks were used to
assess age and basin horizons. The following Unionidae Family
species have been identified: Cuneopsidea dv. sp., Jaskoa dv. sp.
Psilunio dv. sp, Pristinunio dv. sp., Rugunio dv. sp., Rythia dv. sp.,
62 P. Enciu et al. / Quaternary International 357 (2015) 58e69
Fig. 4. Isopach map of Danube Formation.
Sulcopotomida dv sp., Wenziella dv. sp. a.o. (Pana et al., 1981; Enciu,
2007, 2009).
3. Materials and methods
To understand the pre-Quaternary geological evolution of the
western part of the Lower Danube Valley, we synthesized the in-
formation found in the specialist literature (Andreescu et al., 1985;
Filipov et al., 1988, 1990; Krstic et al., 1997; Clauzon et al., 2005;
Leever, 2007; Enciu, 2007, 2009; Leever et al., 2010; a.o.). Based
on this, pre-Quaternary formations (lithology, fossils specific to
depositional environments, etc.) were briefly characterised.
In order to solve aspects connected with the Quaternary for-
mations, we used the materials originating from three sources. The
first is represented by our geological studies in outcrops and
quarries (Enciu and Dumitrica , 2013a, 2013b; unpublished reports;
Enciu et al., 2013).
The lithostratigraphic columns of coal strata prospecting drillings
from the Dacian e Romanian formations have been obtained from
“GEASOL SA” Trade Company. Diggings were made by continuous
mechanical coring to depths of 25e300 m; the network of squares
had sides of 3.6 km and 1.8 km. The first author of the article
participated, as the representative of the Geological Institute of
Romania, in the field study of drilling cores dug in the Romanian Plain
(Enciu, 2007, 2009). Description of drilled strata and the content of
mollusk associations identified therein proved valuable in working
out the lithostratigraphic columns for some 87 drillings. On the basis
of these columns, a correlation of drilled strata from one to the next
drill could be made. The geological cross-sections helped separate
the formations deposited in the Pliocene e Holocene interval.
Another category of drillings were performed by Bucharest
National Research e Development Institute for Land Reclamation
(“ISPIF SA”) over 1965e1985. The drillings, to depths of 50 m, were
studied during 2010e2013. The lithostratigrapical data obtained
come from 1055 wells dug by continuous mechanical coring for
land reclamation in the irrigation systems of Crivina e Vanju Mare
(212 wells), Izvoarele e Cujmir (167 wells), Cetate e Galicea (101
wells), Calafat e Bailesti (214 wells), Nedeia e Macesu (181 wells),
Sadova e Corabia (124 wells) and Corabia terrace (85 wells). The
entire surface-area analyzed covers 5195 km2, and average well
density is 1 to every 5 km2.
The drillings made at spacings of 150e250 m, followed the route
of irrigation channels. The aim was to get an insight into the grain
size, lithology and thickness of strata in the Danube Formation and
the Aeolian Formation. The “ISPIF SA” data were processed and
centralized in an Excel table that included the coordinates of dril-
lings, the thickness of the Aeolian and Danube Formations, and the
isobaths of the lower limit of the two formations. The table was
used to generate an ArcGIS database for the studied region. In 2013,
a first set of results was used in the project “Technical requirements
for the Implementation of the Project for Upgrading the Nuclear
Capability of the Nuclear Power Plant Kozlodui e Bulgaria” signed
between the National Research e Development Institute for Land
Reclamation “ISPIF SA”, Bucharest and “Risk Engineering Ltd”, Sofia,
Bulgaria (Enciu and Dumitrica , 2013a, 2013b).
4. Results
A synthesis of published works, the processing of original
archive data, as well as field-work mapping proved useful in:
1. The characterization of the lithology, specific faunal associa-
tions, extension of pre-Quaternary formations situated at the
base of the Danube Formation;
 P. Enciu et al. / Quaternary International 357 (2015) 58e69 63

Fig. 5. Isopach Map of Aeolian formation.

Fig. 6. Some stratigraphic well-columns with two stacked alluvial sequences.

64 P. Enciu et al. / Quaternary International 357 (2015) 58e69
Fig. 7. Main faults.
2. Insight into the rock composition and internal make-up of the
Danube Formation and determining the lower limit of the
Danube Formation;
3. Zonation of the six rough alluvia strata thickness in the Upper
Member of the Danube Formation, present in all the drillings
made in the study-area;
4. Thickness zonation and insight into the overlying Aeolian For-
mation; and
5. Working out a structural sketch with the main faults of the
basement, some of which are active today.
4.1. Stratigraphy of Quaternary formations
During the Lower Pleistocene (~2.6e0.78 Ma), Danube recurrent
overflows formed an extensive fluvial plain contributing decisively
to the Dacian Basin infilling. As a result, the Lower Member of the
Danube Formation (LMDF), consisting of coarse and extensive beds
of alluvium, accumulated. LMDF, up to 25 m-thick, are present
everywhere on the Balacita, Salcuta and Leu-Rotunda High Plains.
The lower limit of the LMDF dips WeE, occuring at ~þ230 m in the
Balacita High Plain, ~þ125 m in the Salcuta High Plain and ~þ 80 m
in the Leu-Rotunda High Plain.
In the LMDF, remnants were found of Mammuthus planifrons
Falconer, Mammuthus meridionalis Nesti, Plesippus athanasiui
Samson, Stephanorhinus etruscus Azzaroli, Alces gallicus (Azzarolli),
Leptobos cf furtivus Duverney, Pliotragus ardeus (Deperet), Castor
plicidens Major and Ursus etruscus Cuvier (Popescu, 2004). Brown-
reddish silty clays (8e10 m) and different grain-sized aeolian
rocks (up to 35 m-thick fine-to-medium sands, clayey sandy silts)
were identified over the LMDF rocks (Fig. 5).
Subsequently, in the Middle PleistoceneeHolocene, the Danube
River downcut the Miocene-Lower Pleistocene succession of the
Balacita, Salcuta and Leu-Rotunda High Plains. As a result, the
higher relief of the Romanian Plain underwent repeated down-
cuttings of the five-eight stepped terraces and the floodplain. The
Upper Member of the Danube Formation (UMDF) is very much
extended in the Lower Danube Valley. As coarse sediments prevail
in this formation, beds are usually devoid of mollusks. There are
few macromammalia fossil-bearing sites: Drobeta-Turnu Severin
and Plenita (Ghenea et al., 1963), Sadova, Cilieni, Dobresti, Obarsia,
Caciulatesti, Caracal and Macesu de Sus (Bandrabur, 1971). Skeleton
fragments of Dicerorhinus merki Jager, Mammuthus meridionalis
Nesti, Mammuthus trogontherii Pohlig, Mammuthus primigenius
Blumback, Coelodonta tychorinus Blumback, Coelodonta antiquitatis
Blumback and Megaceros giganteus have been identified.
4.2. Thickness of the Upper Member of the Danube Formation
Using the geographical criterion, here is a west-to-east
description of UMDF thickness (Table 1).
Table 1
Main thickness classes.
Range (m) Percent % Range (m) Percent %
0e5 12.2 15e20 13.9
5e10 36.0 20e25 5.6
10e15 33.3 25e30 1.0
 P. Enciu et al. / Quaternary International 357 (2015) 58e69
Fig. 8. West-to-East geological cross-section in the Bailesti Plain.
1. The Jiana Plain, the westernmost subunit of the Lower Danube
Valley, is built up of Danube terrace five beds (Savu et al., 1966),
each having about a 10e15 m-thick upward-fining sequence.
Gravel beds, occurring on the Danube River tributaries, were
built both by the low gravel sheets developed during high-
discharge events and by the migration of gravel bedforms.
2. In the Burila Mare sector, beds become thicker (20e25 m) due to
two stacked upward-fining sequences built by the Danube.
Eastwards, where confined valleys of the Orevita and the Blah-
nita tributaries emerge from the Getic Piedmont passing into
the Lower Danube Valley, an alluvial fan was formed. The wells
intersected three stacked upward-fining sequences within the
first 25e30 m from the surface. The high upward leakage, from
the confined aquifer of the Berbesti Formation, into the thick
alluvium of the Jiana Plain favoured the scores of lakes and,
around them, clayey peat beds occur at the top of the UMDF
formation.
3. In the Punghina Plain, the 5e10 m UMDF-thick interval occupies
most of the surface (Fig. 4). There are two 20e25 m-thick sec-
tors. The first is developed in the Drincea Mica and Drincea Mare
inter-stream (has two stacked upward-fining sequences of the
Danube and, overlying them, a sequence of the Drincea River,
~4e5 m thick). The second sector (>25 m) is located on the left
hand side of the Danube floodplain, around the Timok River
mouth.
4. The main UMDF thickness classes in the Bailesti Plain are 5e10
and 10e15 m. Along the Golenti, Basarabi and Bailesti WeE
strips, the UMDF is up to 15e20 m thick. On the WeE strip,
connecting Pisculet, Rast, Coveiu, Catanele and Bistretu
65
settlements, the bedrock is represented by the Upper Dacian-
Romanian coaly-clayey Formation (þ30 to þ20 m elevation).
The Quaternary alluvium is < 5 m thick in the Pisculet-Tunarii
Noi sector and 5e10 m thick in the eastern area.
5. Along the Danube floodplain, in the sector situated between the
Baboia River in the west and the Jiu River in the east, maximum
alluvium bed thickness is 17e20 m. The bedrock is represented
by the Lower Dacian Berbesti Formation (up to 100 m-thick
deltaic sands, Fig. 4). The area has the necessary structural and
hydrogeological conditions for the development of the Bistretu,
Carna, Nasta, Nedeia, Marmorele and other large lakes. Large
areas of the alluvial sequence are overlain by up to 6 m-thick
organic mud.
6. East of the Jiu River, between the localities of Bechet and Ianca,
the bedrock over the Dabuleni-Bals positive morphostructure is
represented by Sarmatian sandstone and limestone. The Qua-
ternary alluvium is 5e10 m-thick around Ostroveni and Bechet
settlements and is < 5 m-thick north of Da buleni commune
(Enciu et al., 2013).
7. Between the localities of Ianca and Corabia, UMDF becomes
steadily thicker, up to a maximum value around 20e25 m. The
wells crossed two stacked upward-fining sequences in Garcov,
Vartop, Vadastrita, Celei and other sectors. The subsiding
movement of the compartment between the Ianca-Amarasti
and Celei-Bucinisu faults explains the large space available for
deposition (Figs. 4 and 7).
8. In the Danube floodplain, near Corabia, the alluvium layer
(>23 m) is the result of conjugate erosion and deposition by the
Iskar right hand side tributary and the Danube.
66 P. Enciu et al. / Quaternary International 357 (2015) 58e69
4.3. Characterization of the Aeolian Formation
All over the western Romanian Plain, the Danube Formation is
overlain by the silty-sandy Aeolian Formation, thickness 1e30 m.
Its main role is to protect the groundwater resources of the Danube
Formation against human-induced pollution. The grain-size, in-
ternal architecture, and thickness of the youngest formation,
deposited during the Middle PleistoceneeHolocene, show signifi-
cant west to east differences.
1. In the west-east elongated sector, between the settlements of
Deveselu and Plenita, which correspond to parts of the Jiana,
Punghina and Bailesti Plains, over the old terrace, the Aeolian
Formation is 20e23 m-thick. In the south of the above plains,
over the lowermost terrace, the same formation, represented by
clayey sandy silts, is 10e15 m-thick (Fig. 5).
2. South of the Bailesti Plain (Calafat area), the Aeolian Formation
(clayey sandy silts a.o.) on the lower terrace is 10e15 m-thick.
Around Poiana Mare, Ciuperceni and Desa communes this for-
mation is built of fine-to-medium sands. Southwards, in the
Danube Floodpain, thickness decreases progressively to <2.5 m
(due to repeated Danube washing during high overflows in
Holocene).
3. In the WeE elongated sector, between the Danube River in the
west and the Balasan Brook in the east, around Pisculet, Piscu
Nou and Piscu Vechi settlements, the Aeolian Formation
(5e10 m thick) over the lowermost terrace, t1, is dominated by
medium-to-coarse yellow sands.
4. East of the Balasan River, on the flat surface of the lowermost
terrace (t1), and especially over the Danube Floodplain (t0), the
Aeolian Formation is < 2.5 m-thick, or is missing altogether
(reworked during major floods).
5. Near the Bistretu, Ca ^rna, Nedeia and Potelu lakes, on the large
surface of the Danube floodplain, the Aeolian Formation was
rewashed during major flood events.
6. East of the Jiu River, Aeolian Formation thickness increases.
During the Middle PleistoceneeHolocene, as some geological
and climatic factors converged, a dust-generating process was
favoured. The Aeolian Formation on the old Danube terrace
is > 20 m-thick. It is formed exclusively of sand layers (21 m-
buleni North Monitoring Well) and of sands and silty
thick in Da
clays (22 m-thick in Ocolna Monitoring Well).
7. In the easternmost part of the studied area, on the common
terraces of the Olt and the Danube, the Aeolian Formation,
consisting primarily of loess, is 10e15 m-thick (Fig. 5).
8. In the Boian High Plain in the eastern part of the studied area,
the Aeolian Formation is the thickest (over 35 m-thick).
5. Discussion
5.1. Recent results concerning the Paleo-Lower Danube River
The ancient hypothesis (Cviji
c, 1908) implies that the Danube
Valley though the Iron Gate gorges existed already in the Pontian,
as a heritage of a narrow Middle Miocene valley. A recent regional
seismic sequence stratigraphy supported by bio- and magneto-
stratigraphic data consolidated this hypothesis of the fluvial
connection between the Pannonian and Dacian basin since the
Pontian (Leever et al., 2009, 2011). Sudden base level fall in the
western part of the Dacian basin in the Pontian was attributed to
the Messinian lowering of the water level in the Black Sea (5.6e5.3
Ma).
The subsequent Upper Pontian e Dacian sequence shows the
well-developed clinoforms, dipping W-to-E, arranged into pro-
grading bodies (Leever et al., 2009). The Gilbert fan delta described
at the Danube outlet of the Iron Gates (Clauzon et al., 2005) as a
Pliocene transgression following the Messinian lowering of the
Dacian Basin, could be correlated with the W-to-E dipping
clinoforms.
Thanks to our studies of the rocks recovered from continuous-
coring drill-holes made for coal on the Getic Tableland and the
westernmost part of the Lower Danube Valley, thick alluvial beds
were identified (30e35 m thick of gravels and fine-to-coarse sands)
as the fills of a major river within the clayey-coaly Jiu e Motru
Formation (Enciu, 2007, 2009). In the upper part of the Jiu e Motru
Formation, in the raw material quarries investigated in 2012 and
2013, we identified pebbles of Carboniferous slates and anthracite,
Permian quartz-porphyries, and other lithologies exposed in the
Almaj Mountains (Southern Carpathians). The main lithoclasts
sensitive to source-areas in the Lower Pleistocene Danube Forma-
tion are andesites and dolerities (originating in the Timok catch-
ment area) and quartz-porphyries, peridotites and serpentinites
frequently occurring in the Danube Gorge.
5.2. Main features of the Danube and Aeolian Quaternary
formations
In the studied area of the Danube Valley, in 649 of 1055 total
drillings used in the elaboration of this study, one-to-two mainly
incomplete upward fining sequences pertaining to the Upper
Member of the Danube Formation overlay the Upper Miocene-
Pliocene formations. Each alluvial sequence starts with boulders
and gravels, or gravels and sands, and is completed by coarse-to-
fine sands, sandy clays, or clays (Fig. 6).
The 2.5e5.0 m thickness class of Upper Member of Danube
Formation represents about 12% of the area, and is present mainly
in locations with a pre-Quaternary erosion-resistant basement
(Sarmatian limestone and sandstone), or in areas affected by pos-
itive crustal movements (lower basin of the Jiu River).
The dominant thickness of an upward fining sequence of the
Upper Member of the Danube Formation is in the range of 5e10 and
10e15 m, with a cumulative share of some 69% of the entire area
studied.
The 15e20 m thickness class covers about 14% of the area and is
present in the western third, where the Danube was supplied with
large amounts of alluvia by the right hand side tributaries from the
Miro
ci Mountains and Tableland (Fig. 4).
There are two sectors of the Upper Member of the Danube
Formation, 20e25 m, featuring two overlapping alluvial sequences,
one in the northern Bailesti Plain, and the other in the eastern
Dabuleni Plain (Fig. 4).
Highest thickness values (25e30 m) are found in the Jiana and
Punghina plains. An alluvial sequence, built by the Blahnita and
Drincea rivers, overlaps two alluvial sequences deposited by the
Danube (borehole 157H Vanju Mare and 2009H Punghina, Fig. 6).
The Aeolian Formation situated above the Upper Member of the
Danube Formation is composed of medium-to-clayey sands (Jiana
Plain, western Bailesti Plain, western and southern Dabuleni Plain)
with subunits of fine grain-size rocks (clays, silts, and silty clays of
macroporous texture). The Aeolian Formation is thickest where it
overlies older Quaternary formations, namely the Lower Member of
the Danube Formation, in the Leu-Rotunda High Plain (30e35 m)
and the old terraces (t5, t4, in: Mihaila et al., 1968) in the northern
Bailesti Plain (20e25 m).
Above the newest alluvial terraces (t1, Bandrabur et al., 1966;
Savu et al., 1966; Mihaila  and Patrulius, 1966; Mihaila et al.,
1968), the Aeolian Formation is 2.5e5.0 m-thick. The thinnest
Aeolian Formation layers are in the Blahnita, Drincea, Desantui, Jiu,
Olt and the Danube floodplains. The major sources of wind-borne
 P. Enciu et al. / Quaternary International 357 (2015) 58e69
sands are the Danube floodplain between the localities of Batoti
and Calafat and the Jiu floodplain between Craiova and Bechet.
5.3. Some geodynamic data
The characteristic Danube Valley features and configuration are
the outcome of regional endodynamic processes that took place
during the Middle Miocene-Quaternary interval. The western
neighbourhood of this area, the southwestern Carpathians, in-
cludes outcrops of the Supra-Getic, Getic and Severin Nappes
formations (Sandulescu, 1984). During the Late Cretaceous-
Paleogene, these younger and more mobile Carpathian units
collided with the Moesian Platform western boundary. The
compression occurred against the background of their south-
north-directed drift and continued north of the Danube by a
clockwise rotation movement around the Moesian Platform
(Ratscbacher et al., 1993; Krezsek et al., 2013). The resistance of
the Moesian Platform to the SeN-directed displacement of the
Alpine units changed the tectonic-mechanical regime of the latter.
The compression stage was then followed by one of rupture, with
unequal movements along the southenorth direction. The dextral
strike-slip displacement was less extended (~60 km) along the
Pore
c e Cerna e Jiu fault than along the Timok e Balta e Targu Jiu
e Calimanesti fault (~65 km), at the contact with the Moesian
Platform (Berza and Draganescu, 1988;; Kra €utner and Krsti
c, 2003;
Tarapoanca et al., 2007).
With the exception of the Batoti-Pristol sector (~70 km long),
developed over the buried compartments of the South-Western
Carpathians, the central and eastern parts of the studied area
(230 km long) were moulded over the Moesian Platform basement,
affected by S-to-N differential movements along the strike-slip
faults system. On tectonically predetermined blocks with tectonic
lines, the mainly isostatic movement was reactivated during the
Subcarpathian Nappe emplacement (Sarmatian) and during the
Wallachian phase (Lower Pleistocene). Two roughly orthogonal
normal fault systems are mapped (Visarion et al., 1988). The E-W-
oriented one has the largest offsets at the basin bottom and is
mostly Mid-Cenozoic in age. The second one is NeS-to-NE-SW-
oriented and originates from the Permo-Triassic (Tarapoanca et al.,
2007). Some of these faults were slightly rejuvenated during the
Middle Miocene-Quaternary. Geological and geophysical research
carried out in the studied area (Dumitrescu et al., 1962;
Straszewska, 1971; Sandulescu et al., 1978; Dumitrescu and
Sandulescu, 1981; Visarion et al., 1988; Filipov et al., 1988, 1990;
Zugravescu et al., 1998; Enciu, 2007; Dinu and Raileanu, 2008;
Raileanu et al., 2008; Georgiev and Shanov, 1991) indicates the
existence of at least nine disjunctive structures at the pre-
Quaternary datum-level (Fig. 7).
Inside the study area, the active character of the Batoti-Gogosu,
Rogova-Gruia, Motatei, Gramada-Seaca de Camp, Desnatui and
Celei-Bucinisu faults is betrayed by the existence of the Hinova,
Bregovo, Cetate, Bistretu, Bucinisu and other epicenters (Angelova,
2000; Lungu et al., 2004). The last recorded earthquake
(Magnitude ¼ 3.6 MSK, depth ~ 4.0 km) took place in Bistretu
settlement along the Desnatui fault on March 23, 1987 (Georgiev
and Shanov, 1991; Enciu et al., 2013; Enciu, 2013).
The Drincea-Desnatui Interfleuve is characterized by important
NNE and ENE trending high-angle fault systems (Dragoescu et al.,
1988; Filipov et al., 1988; Visarion et al., 1988; Filipov et al., 1988,
1990, 1992) which influenced the eastward bending of the Dan-
ube course between Cetate commune in the north and Maglavit
commune in the south. This neotectonic activity is illustrated
(Fig. 8) by the downward movement of the eastward compartment
versus the NNE trending Vartop-Galicea Mare-Bailesti fault which
brought the old terrace height down to10 m.
67
6. Conclusions
The Danube Valley studied (170e20 m elevation) is the outcome
of part of the Upper Miocene-Lower Pleistocene formations being
eroded and deepened by 150e120 m and of the Danube migrating
from the center of the Romanian Plain (N) to the limit with the
Prebalkan Tableland (S). The age of pre-Quaternary rocks, overlain
discordantly by the Danube Formation alluvia, decreases from
north to south conformable with the progressive dipping of the
valley, being Upper Pliocene in the Central Romanian Plain (on the
high fields) and Upper Miocene over a large part of the floodplain.
At the OlteDanube confluence, Senonian limestone is present at
the base of the floodplain alluvia. In the Middle Pleistoce-
neeHolocene, the Danube and its tributaries deposited the Upper
Member of the Danube Formation, consisting of five-to-eight layers
of terrace alluvia and a layer of floodplain alluvium.
In the Lower Danube Valley, the 1055 drillings used in the
elaboration of this study intersected one-to-two upward fining
sequences (consisting of boulders, gravels, sands and sandy clays)
and reached Upper Pliocene-Upper Miocene formations. Out of all
the drillings that fully traversed the Danube Formation, only 16%
met two or three levels of alluvial sequences.
The dominant thickness of an upward fining sequence of the
Upper Member of the Danube Formation is in the range of 5e10 m
and 10e15 m, with a cumulative share of some 69% in the entire
area studied. The morpho-stratigraphy of the Upper Member of the
Danube Formation is very difficult to decipher, due to the Danube
Formation alluvial beds being covered by the Aeolian Formation
(fine-to-coarse sands, primary loess, loess-like deposits), up to
25 m-thick above the old terrace and over 35 m-thick on the Leu-
Rotunda High Plain). In addition to the fact that the scarp of ter-
races is obscured by the Aeolian Formation, understanding the
initial pattern of the alluvial strata is made difficult by recent crustal
movements of the Moesian Platform along the active faults, with the
VartopeGaliceaeBailesti reverse fault being particularly involved.
Acknowledgements
One of the authors (Enciu) wishes to extend his gratitude to the
geological specialists of “GEASOL SA” Craiova Enterprise of
Geological Prospecting and Explorations, who participated in field
work for coal drillings in the Getic Piedmont and the Romanian
Plain between 1983 and 1992. Thanks are also due to Eng. George
Varbanov, the representative of the Bulgarian “Risk Engineering
Ltd” Company, Sofia for fruitful collaboration in solving the struc-
tural pattern of the Moesian Platform formations found at 25 km
around the Kozlodui Nuclear Power Plant.
The authors are also indebted to Dr. Danut Maria, Dr. Coman
Mihai and Eng. Traian Ghibus, the management of the National
Research e Development Institute for Land Reclamation “ISPIF SA”
for having kindly agreed to our processing archive data for ~1055
short wells dug over 1965e1990 interval. The lithological columns
of the drillings enabled us to understand the lithology, internal
architecture and structure of the Quaternary formations. The au-
thors are grateful for the sincere help received from Dr. Stefan
Shanov, who offered new references, valuable criticism and sug-
gestions for improving the scientific text. We are also thankful to
the two anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments.
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