Specific features of the massive landslides at Cornâtel (Hârtibaciu Tableland), Rumania

Abstract

For the Hârtibaciu Tableland, the landslides, locally called glimee, represent a specific feature of the landscape because of the surfaces they cover (i.e. – maximum surfaces of 1,550 sq.km and average surfaces of 50-150 sq.km) and the height of the scarps (i.e. 60-70 m height on a 5 km distance). The largest area with glimee is to be found at the contact of Pliocene sands and shales with the Miocene rocks (shales, sands, sandstones or volcanic tuffs) or Sarmatian deposits. The location of these glimee shows a concordance of them with the dome or anticline structures. The sheets of underground waters are differently drained away by Pliocene and Miocene deposits and give lines of water springs on the medium or lower thirds of the slopes. The glimee lay in 5 rows grouped within 3 evolutionary stages. The oldest ones are situated in the lower part of the slope, the newest in the upper one.