The Bâsca, also known as Bâsca Mare in its upper course, and Bâsca Roziliei in its lower course, is a left

tributary A tributary, or an ''affluent'', is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream (''main stem'' or ''"parent"''), river, or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries, and the main stem river into which they ...

of the river

Buzău Buzău (; formerly spelled ''Buzeu'' or ''Buzĕu'') is a city in the historical region of Muntenia, Romania, and the county seat of Buzău County. It lies near the right bank of the Buzău River, between the south-eastern curvature of the Carp ...

, in

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

. It discharges into the Buzău near Nehoiu.

Geographic position

Positioned in the external region of the curvature of

Carpathians The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians () are a range of mountains forming an arc across Central Europe and Southeast Europe. Roughly long, it is the third-longest European mountain range after the Urals at and the Scandinavian Mountains ...

(subunit of

Eastern Carpathians Divisions of the Carpathians are a categorization of the Carpathian mountains system. Below is a detailed overview of the major subdivisions and ranges of the Carpathian Mountains. The Carpathians are a "subsystem" of a bigger Alps-Himalaya Sy ...

), the Bâsca

drainage basin A drainage basin is an area of land in which all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, ...

has an area of . Its length is . It lies at an average altitude of 1,081 m between the Lăcăuți Peak (1,777 m altitude) and the confluence with the Buzău River (385 m altitude).

Geology

From the geological point of view, the Bâsca River Catchment overlaps the orogenic unit of the Eastern Carpathians, where the external

Paleogene The Paleogene Period ( ; also spelled Palaeogene or Palæogene) is a geologic period and system that spans 43 million years from the end of the Cretaceous Period Ma (million years ago) to the beginning of the Neogene Period Ma. It is the fir ...

flysch Flysch () is a sequence of sedimentary rock layers that progress from deep-water and turbidity flow deposits to shallow-water shales and sandstones. It is deposited when a deep basin forms rapidly on the continental side of a mountain building ep ...

is predominant, including:

sandstones Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains, cemented together by another mineral. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed o ...

(Tarcău sandstones Facies),

marl Marl is an earthy material rich in carbonate minerals, Clay minerals, clays, and silt. When Lithification, hardened into rock, this becomes marlstone. It is formed in marine or freshwater environments, often through the activities of algae. M ...

, conglomerates. This area is characterised by tectonic uplift and by severe seismicity related to the Vrancea Epicentral Area, being affected by deep-seated

landslides Landslides, also known as landslips, rockslips or rockslides, are several forms of mass wasting that may include a wide range of ground movements, such as rockfalls, mudflows, shallow or deep-seated slope failures and debris flows. Landslide ...

(Ielenicz, 1984).

Lithology The lithology of a rock unit is a description of its physical characteristics visible at outcrop, in hand or core samples, or with low magnification microscopy. Physical characteristics include colour, texture, grain size, and composition. Lit ...

is dominated by the presence of the hardest and hard rocks, covering 96.7% of the catchment surface.

Climate

The

climate Climate is the long-term weather pattern in a region, typically averaged over 30 years. More rigorously, it is the mean and variability of meteorological variables over a time spanning from months to millions of years. Some of the meteoro ...

of the Bâsca Catchment is temperate-continental.

Föhn A Foehn, or Föhn (, , , ), is a type of dry, relatively warm downslope wind in the lee of a mountain range. It is a rain shadow wind that results from the subsequent adiabatic warming of air that has dropped most of its moisture on windw ...

phenomena moderate the characteristics parameters of climatic elements, e.g. average multiannual atmospheric temperature between 1.2 °C at the Lăcăuți meteorological station between 1961 and 2000, see Table, and 2.4 °C at the Penteleu station (1988–2007), combined with precipitations of 664.3 mm at Penteleu and 830.1 mm at Lăcăuți.

Hydrography

Major river tributaries

The following rivers are tributaries to the river Bâsca (from source to mouth): : – left: Țiganu, Delușor (Holom), Ghiurca Mare, Slobod, Pătac, Bâsculița, Izvorul Ascuns, Izvorul Stâncos, Cernat, Milei,

Bâsca Mică The Bâsca Mică is a left tributary of the river Bâsca in Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary ...

, Varlaam, Tigva, Fulgeriș, Tainița, Gotiș, Hânsaru; : – right: Râșdaș, Reghin, Poplița, Saroș, Dârnăul Mic, Dârnăul Mare, Cireș, Ioviz, Surducul Mare, Cocean, Copăcelu, Piciorul Milei, Bratu, Tega, Păltiniș.

Reservoirs

On the Bâsca River the project "Hydropower Siriu – Surduc Development", has been developed (being now in construction stage). This project includes a permanent water reservoir "Cireșu" on the upper part of the Bâsca River and an underground derivation "Surduc – Nehoiașu", from Cireșu Accumulation and Bâsca River towards the "CHE Nehoiașu II" hydroelectric power station.

Hydrology

The most common risk hydric phenomena affecting the catchment area are floods and

flooding A flood is an overflow of water ( or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are of significant concern in agriculture, civi ...

. Associated to these are processes of

river channel In physical geography and hydrology, a channel is a landform on which a relatively narrow body of water is situated, such as a river, river delta or strait. While ''channel'' typically refers to a natural formation, the cognate term ''canal'' de ...

dynamics, landslides and falls. The frequency analysis of the maximum monthly discharge indicates that the month with the highest flood potential is July, followed by June. In July were recorded the highest floods. Among them, remarkable for their socio-economic consequences where those from 1969, 1975, 2002. The annual maximum flow of the Bâsca River varied between 39.4 m³/s (year 1986) and 960 m³/s (year

1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 – Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

, 2 Jul). Exceptionally floods were recorded in the years: 1975 (960 m³/s), 1969 (697 m³/s), 1991 (530 m³/s) and 1985 (515 m³/s). Multiannual average flow at this station is about 12 m³/s. Damaging effects caused by floods and flooding have determined property damage, such as flooded homes (e.g. on 20 July 2002, the Păltiniș inundated homes in the area of the

confluence In geography, a confluence (also ''conflux'') occurs where two or more watercourses join to form a single channel (geography), channel. A confluence can occur in several configurations: at the point where a tributary joins a larger river (main ...

with the Bâsca), landslides and

slope In mathematics, the slope or gradient of a Line (mathematics), line is a number that describes the direction (geometry), direction of the line on a plane (geometry), plane. Often denoted by the letter ''m'', slope is calculated as the ratio of t ...

destabilization of versants; destruction of undermining and hydrotechnical works, affecting sections of the roads and humans casualties.

Demographic and socio-economic features

* from a demographic point of view, the Bâsca River Catchment is situated in a human

area Area is the measure of a region's size on a surface. The area of a plane region or ''plane area'' refers to the area of a shape or planar lamina, while '' surface area'' refers to the area of an open surface or the boundary of a three-di ...

with low density (8.35

inhabitants In law and conflict of laws, domicile is relevant to an individual's "personal law", which includes the law that governs a person's status and their property. It is independent of a person's nationality. Although a domicile may change from time ...

/km²). In this catchment they are two communes: Comandău (1,042 inhabitants) and Gura Teghii (3,884 inhabitants) and two villages appertaining to the town of Nehoiu: Bâsca Roziliei (1,428 inhabitants) and Vinețișu (206 inhabitants);The inhabitants number are according to The National Institute of Statistic, Romanian census data, 2002. * localities situated in the upper part: Comandău commune and lower part of the Bâsca River Catchment: Vadu Oii (on the

), Varlaam (at confluence of the Bâsca or ''Bâsca Mare'' with the Bâsca Mică), Gura Teghii, Nemertea, Furtunești, Păltiniș and Bâsca Roziliei; * the economical areas of activities of local it is focused on tree cutting from the forest and primary processed seasonal activity of

pastoral The pastoral genre of literature, art, or music depicts an idealised form of the shepherd's lifestyle – herding livestock around open areas of land according to the seasons and the changing availability of water and pasture. The target au ...

and harvest of therapeutical

herbs Herbs are a widely distributed and widespread group of plants, excluding vegetables, with savory or aromatic properties that are used for flavoring and garnish (food), garnishing food, for medicinal purposes, or for fragrances. Culinary use typi ...

References

Maps

* Harta Siriu – Trasee Montane
/sup> * geo-spatial.org, accessed 2010
/sup> {{Portal bar, Romania Rivers of Romania Rivers of Buzău County