Palaeogeography: Syn- and Post-eruptive Landscape Evolution Around Ciomadul

Abstract

Ciomadul’s landscape represents an amalgamation of volcanic edifices that build up a lava dome complex. Spanning almost 1 million years of volcanic and geotectonic evolution, Ciomadul periodically released large amounts of volcaniclastic material that modified the local topography. The volcanic activity constrained the Olt River by carving the narrow and steep gorge at Tuşnad and clogged its alluvial plains with the sudden input of volcanically derived material such as laharic deposits. This geomorphological forcing is best expressed in the landscape we see today along the Olt valley with narrower sectors, and a ribbed and furrowed appearance of the side valleys and their terrace systems. This chapter aims to summarize the recent progress in understanding the syn- and post-eruptive landscape evolution in the area by looking at key sedimentary sequences along the Olt valley and assessing their tephrostratigraphic potential for providing direct evidence for past eruptive and volcanism-related events at Ciomadul.