Romania's tsunamis hazards

Romania borders on the Black Sea, therefore there is a potential for tsunamis, even though it is considered low to moderate. At present, according to http://meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EGU2015/EGU2015-10262.pdf, there have been 29 historical tsunami events in the Black Sea. As the Romanian Black Sea cost is undergoing development and further construction, more than ever tsunami flooding maps and risk assessments are necessary.

Romania traditionally has had a very low number of local tsunami events, that were  poorly documented by usually being described by eye-witnesses and rarely measured by instruments.
Thus, according to http://www.profet.ro/Sectiunea%20A%20pag.%201-32.pdf, (which offers a sum of research articles of presentations which took place during of the International Seminar on Natural Hazards in the Marine Area, 28-29 July 2008, Bucharest, Romania),  a sum of anomalous hydrodynamic events were observed:  high waves at the entrance to the Sulina Canal and floods on jetties situated along the canal, displacements of rock blocks and violent displacement of ships anchored in Sulina harbor, etc. in 1957, 1958, 1960 and 1993. Geological studies in the area determined that tsunami-wave depositions were registered on the Black Sea Coast (Marine Natural Hazard: New Data About Tsunami Phenomena Along the Romanian Black Sea Coast). The most known trigger for tsunamis in the Black Sea bassin was identified to be earthquakes, followed by submarine landslides especially in the NW part of the bassin; many earthquakes, with magnitudes of 6.5 or more, were said to have their epicenters on the Black Sea coasts, being potential sources for future tsunamis. Overall, researchers have suggested (p. 27) that the entire Black Sea Coast should be considered as a possible tsunami target.

In 2011, Romanian scientists took part in establishing an early alert system for geological hazards on the Black Sea coast.  According to http://www.novinite.com/articles/134566/Bulgaria,+Romania+to+Watch+Out+for+Black+Sea+Tsunamishttp://www.novinite.com/articles/134566/Bulgaria,+Romania+to+Watch+Out+for+Black+Sea+Tsunamis, a total of 10 tsunami stations will be placed on Romania and Bulgaria Black Sea Coast, which will observe seafloor vibrations - vibrations which will show whether earthquakes are about to take place and whether they can cause tsunami waves.

A total of 10 stations will be placed on Bulgaria and Romania's Black Sea aquatory as a part of the project.
"The stations will observe seafloor vibrations – vibrations which will show whether earthquakes are about to take place and whether the earthquakes can cause tsunami waves,
- See more at: http://www.novinite.com/articles/134566/Bulgaria,+Romania+to+Watch+Out+for+Black+Sea+Tsunamis#sthash.U1KX8ptR.dpuf

Romanian scientists will take part in establishing an early alert system for geological hazards on the two countries' Black Sea coast. - See more at: http://www.novinite.com/articles/134566/Bulgaria,+Romania+to+Watch+Out+for+Black+Sea+Tsunamis#sthash.U1KX8ptR.dpuf

Romanian scientists will take part in establishing an early alert system for geological hazards on the two countries' Black Sea coast. - See more at: http://www.novinite.com/articles/134566/Bulgaria,+Romania+to+Watch+Out+for+Black+Sea+Tsunamis#sthash.U1KX8ptR.dpuf

Romanian scientists will take part in establishing an early alert system for geological hazards on the two countries' Black Sea coast. - See more at: http://www.novinite.com/articles/134566/Bulgaria,+Romania+to+Watch+Out+for+Black+Sea+Tsunamis#sthash.U1KX8ptR.dpuf

In 2014, according to the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission, http://www.ioc-tsunami.org/http://www.ioc-tsunami.org/, the tsunami alert exercise that took place from the 28 to the 30 October in the Mediterranean, North-eastern Atlantic, and the Black Sea was marked by a strong participation of the civil protection authorities in a number of countries that never participated before, among which Romania. This simulation aimed at testing the preparedness of the countries participating in the NEAMTWS (Tsunami Early Warning and Mitigation System in the North-eastern Atlantic, the Mediterranean and connected seas) established by the IOC (Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission) of UNESCO. For Romania, this exercise was not only the first time it participated to such an exercise but also the first occasion to establish contracts among the actors concerned with tsunami risk at national level.

The exercise, named NEAMWave14, simulated 4 earthquakes generating tsunamis in the Mediterranean, north-eastern Atlantic, and Black Sea and involved the simulation of the assessment of a tsunami, based on an earthquake-driven scenario followed by alert message dissemination.

Romania's volcanic activity

First and foremost, Romania has no active volcanos on its territory. But in spite of this, according to the following article, ignoring volcanic hazards would be inadvisable.

 "The relevance of volcanic hazard in Romania: is there any?" by Alexandru Szakács and Seghedi, Ioan published in the Environmental Engineering and Management Journal in January 2013, http://connection.ebscohost.com/c/articles/86231090/relevance-volcanic-hazard-romania-there-any, states volcanic hazard is ignored in natural hazard studies in Romania precisely because no active volcano is known on its territory. However, it also states that the 2010 eruption of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano in Iceland and its consequences on air traffic safety across Europe and the whole northern hemisphere dramatically demonstrated that volcanic hazard in a certain area, such as a country, is not necessarily related to the presence of active volcanoes in the same territory. Therefore, target-focused approaches to volcanic hazard should also consider remotely located hazard sources with respect the target territory.

Thus, the above mentioned article attempts at making an inventory of potential volcanic hazard sources for the territory of Romania, irrespective of their location inside or outside the country.  According to the article, external volcanic sources implying ash-fall hazard from tephra dispersion following explosive volcanic eruptions include the Central Italian field of active volcanoes (e.g. Campii Flegreii and Vesuvius), the active Aegean volcanic arc, the Eifel region of Central Europe (Germany), and Iceland. And geologic evidence of thick tephra deposition from Campi Flegreii found in southern Romania clearly indicates that such type of volcanic hazard is real.
On the other hand, study of the most recent volcanic activity in Romania shows that the last eruptive event occurred at Ciomadul volcano at the south-eastern end of the Calimani-Gurghiu-Harghita volcanic range (East Carpathians) in a poorly-constrained time interval of 10.7 to 35 Ka in the continuation of a ca. 10.5 Ma.

A number of peculiar features of the Ciomadul volcano and its surroundings strongly suggest that the magma plumbing system of this volcano is not definitely frozen: a well-focused and strongest-in-Romania heat-flow anomaly, crustal and sub-crustal local seismic activity, seismic wave attenuation patterns recorded in seismic tomography images, most intense "post-volcanic activity" including mantle-originated gas emanations. All these symptoms allow one to consider that future eruptions from this volcano cannot be ruled out. The article concludes that more geophysical studies are needed to obtain more basic information on the current status of the magma-generating and plumbing systems of Ciomadul volcano, which is crucial from the viewpoint of volcanic hazard assessment.

Since Romania has no relatively recent volcanic activity and as mentioned, to date, it has no active volcanos on its territory, very little, if nothing is done to warn people about volcanic eruptions.

However, what is interesting in Romania is the presence of the so-called "muddy volcanos"located in the Buzau county, near the village of Berca. Not as spectacular as real volcanos, but still an interesting phenomena. These so-called volcanoes are active all the time, which means gas is pushing mud to the surface in a continuous way, but at low speeds.