Mining Museum

/0 Comments/in /by

Str. Nicolae Balcescu, No. 2;

Tel. 0254/541 744

The location of Petrosani Mining Museum is located in a historic building category B, included in the List of Historical Monuments in Romania (LMI 2010) at position no. 394, with HD-II code-MB-03409, under the name “The first location of SAR Petrosani, Mining Museum today”; it is dated in 1920.

The well-known Mining Museum from Petrosani was established by the Decision of the People Council of Hunedoara Region, number 750 of August 4th , 1961. The first location of the museum was on Ion Luca Str., No. 1 in a house situated on the area of the current Central Park, opposite site of the House of Culture. During 1961-1966 the activity took place in that building, which had a role of warehouse more, exhibition space being very small.

According to the presentation of Mr. Ioan Dumitru Puscasu, the historian:

The first exhibition organized by the newly established institution under the government of its first director, Professor Nicolae Cerchez, was dedicated to the Cuban Revolution and took place at the State Theatre hall (it is about the oldest theater in the colony).

In the summer of 1964, director of the museum is named Professor Ion Poporogu; who activated as a teacher at Theoretical High School until then.

In 1966, the museum moved in the current location. The Museum development in inside and outside the building was realized by the cooperative “Decorative” from Bucharest, a company specialized in exhibition design.

Starting with 1965-1967, the building started to operate as “mining museum”, hosting a museum collection with pieces attesting the history of mining in the Jiu Valley: original documents, photocopies, drawings, equipment, mining equipment, badges, technical mining evolution in the Jiu Valley, represented by different tools and machines together with different specific appliances and objects of the life in the region as well. Also, the museum collection comprises a section of geology, represented by vegetal and animal rocks and fossils.

On October 18th 1970, it was established the first section of Numismatics in Romania inside the halls of the Mining Museum.

In the years that followed, the Mining Museum was run by the teachers Cornel Plato (1977-1978) and Dumitru Peligrad (1978-1993), and starting with 1993 by  Eng. Gheorghe Poncis.  Between 1996 and1998, it was a purely administrative period when he made a complete overhaul of the building.

In time, the museum has become an institution integrated into national and international cultural circuit. On August 4th, 2011, they celebrated 50 years of its existence and the musem was already sheltering more than 4,000 specific exhibits. According to the Museums and Public Collections Law, No. 311/2003,  updated in 2012, and the Classification  rules published in the Official Monitor in 2007, the institution from Petrosani is a science and technology museum of local importance, which owns the museum heritage, movable cultural heritage representative in this area.

The museum was also the host of countless exhibitions that have diversified themes compared to previous years, moving from the plastic art – without neglecting it – to numismatics, exhibits of mining engineering, tourism, photography, vintage photos of the mining towns etc.

Museums and public collections, regardless the formation, the ownership and the management of the Heritage Museum, works in accordance with the methodological rules for the museums and public collections, developed by the Ministry of Culture, with the approval of the National Commission of Museums and Collections, and approved by Order of the Ministry of Culture.

Opening hours:

Monday: closed

Tuesday – Friday: 9.00 – 16.00

Saturday – Sunday, 9.00 – 15.00

 

Ticket Price:

Adults: 3 lei

Children, students: 1.5 lei

Banita Fortress

/0 Comments/in /by

On the territory of the Băniţa village  we find  Geto-Dacian Fortress Băniţa , one of the most spectacular Dacian fortresses dating from Burebista’s time. The citadel was rebuilt during the reign of Decebal, but after the Dacian-Roman wars, it was destroyed. It was built in the western limit of the basin Jiu Valley, in the highest area of Bolii Hill .

Due to its location, the fortress offered safety. From the road, Dacian fortress seems to be just a rock, which does not reveal its hidden treasures. Situated between three hills, it blocked the access to Sarmizegetusa Regia in the south, being close to the route passing the Carpathians  to  Valcan  and  Merisor pass . The defense system is unique, the inside walls, the towers and the platforms to fight are stairs built due to the very steep slopes and lack of flat surfaces. Because of that, its builders have done works for leveling the area.

Situated at an altitude of over 900 meters, the fortress was discovered during 1961 -1962, when it was the only research concerning this historical objective of great importance. Being situated on a steep and isolated cliff, with a slope of about 250-300 meters, the access was almost impossible; it could be reached only from the northern part of the fortress, where the entrance was marked by a gate and a monumental staircase with a length of 45 meters.

Inside the fortress it can be seen a defense and a living space, located on three terraces made ​​under the action of leveling. Two channels cut in the rock were draining the excess water that reached the fortress. The fortress of Banita was a main point in the system of the Dacian fortifications and defense. According to the historians, the system of fortifications was composed by ​​ a defensive wall made ​​of wrought limestone, an earth and stone rampart and fight platforms. In the highest point of the fortress it was built a tower house.

Inside the Banita Fortress there were found numerous amounts of tools, pottery and molds for casting metal objects, and a sanctuary outside the fortified area that has been studied by archaeologists. They said that the fortress was a military one. After the fortress was destroyed, the Roman army advanced towards Sarmizegetusa Regia. That fact was confirmed by the existence of the camps discovered in  Jigonul Mare  and  Comarnicel.

Banita Fortress was designated an UNESCO cultural heritage and could be arranged if the Hunedoara County Council would be able to take it over. The fortress can be accessed following the European road  E79 and  it is recommended to the tourists who arrive in this area, to visit  Gradistea Muncelului Reserve, which includes the Dacian  Bolii Citadel,  the Canyons of Crivadia  and  Bolii Cave.

Source: www.vatra-daciei.ro

Bolii Cave

/0 Comments/in /by

Bolii Cave is situated in the North of Petrosani, 6km from it, on the road between Hateg  and Jiu Valley, in the place where the mountains Retezat and Sebes meet.

The name probably comes from the family named Bolia who was lands and forests owner in the area since 15th century.

The cave starts where the creek “Jupaneasa” loses in the package of Jurassic limestones through a spectacular portal of 20 m at the base and 10 m height. The main gallery of the cave is generally large, here and there expanding into real spacious rooms. Drain formations occur in high places and on the ceiling of the gallery. On a length of 466 m, the gallery goes down only 3 m. At the exit of the cave, the creek is called “Galbina”.

Bolii Cave is a natural breakdown accessible along its entire length, one of the very few caves of this kind in our country.

By the ‘60s, the cave was arranged with bridges crossing over the creek but they have been destroyed during the time. The cave was abandoned until recently when the local speleogists from Petroaqua Association, have started its redevelopment. Culverts have been installed to ease the crossing through the entire underground hole without any danger.

From the interwar period yet, musical concerts were organized in the largest hall of the cave. The hall was named “The concert and dance hall” as a result of the exceptional acoustics proved. In 2007, in May 1st in the spirit of the tradition artistic events were held both within and outside the cave. Every year such concerts are taking place.

Two species of bats live inside the cave.

“The image of Our Lady and Child in her arms is an image that I did not believe more than as a painting or a sculpture in the side wall, but going by water and touching the wall, I realized that it is only the effect of that blue light projector and certainly the divine inspiration of the one who put it in value. Congratulations for the person who did it, and for the other interior of caves’ artists, who by various light effects showed us beauties hard to perceive by a simple spectator.” (from www.mecanturist.ro)

Bolii Cave belongs to the protected area of the Natural Park Gradistea Muncelului- Cioclovina comprising eight reserves and natural monuments, but also historical monuments such as Băniţa Dacian Citadel or Crivadia medieval tower. Reserves and natural monuments which are important to be mentioned: Cioclovina Ponorici- karst complex (Stâna Valley cave), Cheia and Sura Mare cave and Tecuri cave, Pui hayfields, fosolifer place Ohaba Ponor, Crivadia Gorge and Bolii cave and hill.

Thanks to the generous underground gap inside the cave, the Germans chose filming some scenes for the documentary “The Legend of the Nibelungen”.

Peaks in Parâng

/0 Comments/in /by

In the vast space of the mountains between Jiu and Olt rivers, Parang Mountains which occupies an area of ​​1100 square kilometers are the highest, the most rugged and rocky. A general aspect of the most developed group of the Carpathians, that of the mountains between Jiu and Olt rivers is like a huge palm with spread fingers, where the hollow of the hand, located in the South – West is the massive stone fortress of Parâng and the fingers are Şurianu Mountains, Lotru, Latoritei, and Capatanii, which spread to the North, North – East and East. This huge “hollow of the hand” has a polygonal shape, with its axis to the North – South of about 33 km long and East – West axis with a length of about 33 km and East – West axis with a length of about 32 km. The great geographical node where the five mountain massifs joints is “Coasta lui Rus” (2,301 m) triconfiniu between Jiu, Lotru and Gilort rivers. To the North–West, Parang Mountains, like a huge rampart, dominates Petrosani Depression. To the North, Jiet valley separates it from Surianu Mountains and Lotru Valley Mountains and the mountains with the same nume. To the North – East it borders to Latoritei Mountains and to the East, Olteţ Valley separates it from Capatanii Mountains. To the South, Parang Mountains are bounded by the Subcarpathian Depression of Oltenia being represented through a transition zone extended to the alignment Bumbeşti – Krasna – Novaci – Polovraci. From geological point of view, in Parang we meet the main structural units of the Southern Carpathians: Getic and Danubian domains. Getic domain, not widespread in Parang is found in the North-West and North-East, being represented by strongly foliated metamorphic rocks – gneiss, quartz – feldspar, paragneiss, amphibolite, mica, metadiorite schists. Danubian unit, extended in the largest area of ​​Parang Mountains, comprises epizone crystalline schists, then, mica, schist, shale, very closely associated with granitic rocks. Geological research proved that the Parang Mountains, with the vertical movements of Earth’s crust, had risen up up over 1,300 m in the Quaternary when the high mountains and the northern continents were reigned by the great glaciations, the glaciers up on Parang Mountains’ peaks were also dominating. Traces of these glaciers may be seen even today, after thousands of years – huge glacial cirques and valleys of glacial origin, clearly outlined, with nearly vertical sides and the smoothed bottom, paved with erratic blocks. Parâng Mountains pots shelters nearly 40 lakes of glacial origin like “Oglinda Mandrei”, Mija, Rosiile or Câlcescu, all of amazing beauty. This massif takes the third place in the hierarchy of Romanian Carpathians, in this regard. Parang mountains’ orographic major axis forms a main ridge, marked by the peaks Parângul Mic (2,074 m), Carja (2,405 m), Stoieniţa (2,421 m), Gemanarea (2,426 m), Parângul Mare (2,519 m) Setea Mica (2,278 m) Setea Mare (2,365 m), Mohorul (2,337 m), Urdele (2,228 m), Papusa (2,136 m), Cioara (2,123 m), Micaia (2,170 m), oriented mostly from West to East but in the West, is describing two concave arches northward, the ridge maintaining on over 40 km at an altitude of 2,000 m. With the maximum altitude of the Parângul Mare peak (2,519 m) ​​- Parang ranks the second in the hierarchy of Romanian Carpathians after Fagaras Mountains. In addition to the main ridge, there also are a number of Southern ramifications, long ridges. A rigorous branch begins just in Parângul Mare peak, through Mandra peak (2360 m) to Moliduşul (1,758 m) peak, unfolds here like a trident in other heights  between Gilort and Jiu. From near Mandra peak, another ridge extends to South – West, through Tapul (2010 m) and Recii peaks (1,468 m). Flora and fauna of Parâng are specific to the high mountains. In the ice buckets you can meet large juniper carpets, large areas covered with mountain peony (Rhododendron Kotschy) and cranberry (Vacciinium uliginosum). In Latorita Valley grows vigorous larch trees (Larix decidua) and on the limestones of Mount Gauri appears edelweiss (Leonthopodium alpinum). The chamois (Rupicapra rupicapra) is commonly found in Parang, and the wolf (Canis lupus) and the bear (Ursus you) do not hesitate to appear especially in summer around the sheepfolds. In the lakes Rosiile  (1,980 m. 33.76 ha.), Câlcescu (1,935 m. alt. 3.02 ha.), Mija (1,980 m. alt. 0.8 ha.), Mandra (2,184 m.alt, 1.12 ha.) and in the upper valleys of the gorges Lotru, Olteţ and Gilort, lives the  trout (Salmo fario truta). Câlcescu lake and its surroundings are a complex natural reserve called “The glacial complex Câlcescu” whose mission is to protect the geological elements, flora and the landscape specific to this area of a ​​rare beauty and wildness. The Parang Mountains are near the railway Simeria – Petroşani – Tirgu – Jiu and the national road DN 66 (Simeria – Petroşani – Tg. Jiu), DN 67 Drobeta Turnu Severin – Tg Jiu – Ramnicu Valcea), DN 67C (Bumbeşti – Novaci – Rânca – Obârşia Lotrului – Oaşa – Sebes). This road known as TRANSALPINA is a national road that reaches the highest altitude crossing the Romanian Carpathians (2,141 m Saua Urdele). Inside the massif there are secondary roads or forest roads that enter, some of them also accessible for cars (on the Jieţ valleys from Cotul Jieţului) Sadu (from Livezeni) Polatişte (from Gura Polatiştei), Alunul (from Arseni) Crasna (from Crasna ) Bahniţa (from Săcelu), Gilort (from Novaci) . The network of marked trails in Parang includes 18 routes distributed homogeneously all over the mountain, with various degrees of difficulty. It is advisable to take walks only in the company of highly trained mountain guides

Source: www.czearad.ro

Jiu Gorge

/0 Comments/in /by

Jiu Gorge National Park is a protected area of national interest corresponding IUCN category II (national park), located in the South-West of the country, on the administrativ territory of the counties of Gorj and Hunedoara.

In the park area you can find Lainici Monastery, an Orthodox monastery of monks built in 1817. The place of worship is dedicated to the “entry into the Church of Virgin Mary”.

The protected area is in the Southern tip of Hunedoara County (on the administrative territories of Aninoasa, Vulcan and Petroşani cities) and in the Northern tip of Gorj County (on the territory of the town Bumbeşti-Jiu and the village Schela) and it is crossed by the national road DN 66 that connects the towns Deva and Filiaşi.

Jiu Gorge National Park was declared protected area by the Government Decision Number 1581/ Dec. 8th 2005 (on the regime of natural protected areas and natural habitats, wild flora and fauna conservation, approved with amendments by Law no. 462/2001) and has a total area of 11,127 ha.

National Park lies in the Western part of Southern Carpathians, between Vâlcan Mountains (Retezat-Godeanu Mountains group), to the West and Parang Mountains (Parang-Şureanu-Lotru Mountains group) to the East, along the river Jiu, among the confluence of Eastern and Western Jiu and the confluence with Sadu valley and it is a mountainous area (with rocks, limestone slopes, peaks, grottos, gorges, waterfalls, slopes, mountain meadows and forests);  in its area are included nature reserves: Sphinx of Lainici (megalithic geological formation shaped like a sphinx) and Rafailă Cliffs (protected area of paysagistic and​​geological interest, whose territory is made up of several rock formations made of metamorphic rocks  with structure of shale with chloritoid insertions).

The area has several natural habitat types (Dacian beech forests (Symphyto-Fagion), alluvial forests with  Alnus glutinosa  and  Fraxinus excelsior  (Alno-Padion, Alnion incanae, Salicion albae), forest of  Tilio-Acerion  on steep slopes, debris and ravines, forests of oak and hornbeam Galio-Carpinetum type, beech forests  Luzulo-Fagetum type, beech forests  Asperulo-Fagetum, Illyrian oak and hornbeam forests (Erythronio-Carpiniori), Acidophilic Forest of  Picea Abies  in mountainous region (Vaccinio-Piceetea), communities of hygrophilic tall grass skirt from the lowlands, up to mountain and alpine, Petrifying springs with travertine formation (Cratoneurion), woody vegetation with  Salix eleagnos  along mountain rivers, woody vegetation with Myricaria germanica along mountain rivers and herbaceous vegetation from mountain rivers harboring a diverse range of flora and fauna of the Meridional Carpathian Mountains.

The park is covered for more than 80% of beech forest (Fagus sylvatica) and oak (Quercus petraea) in combination with hornbeam (Carpinus betulus) or ash (Fraxinus). Herbaceous layer flora is composed of over 550 species of cormophyte and over 140 of talofite (species with a single gametophyte unite, propagated by spores). Fauna is well represented by mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles, fish and insects.

The National Park overlaps the site of Community importance –  Jiu Valley Gorge  (site SCI), based on that designation being some fauna and flora species listed in Annex I of the  European Directive  92/43/EC of May 21st 1992 (on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora), including seven mammalian species: brown bear (Ursus arctos, lynx (Lynx lynx), river otter (Lutra Lutra), the greater horseshoe bat (Rhinolophus ferrumequinum), common bat (Myotis myotis), mouse-eared bat (Myotis blythii) and long winged bat (Miniopterus schreibersi), two amphibians: yellow-belled Toad (Bombina variegata) and the crested newt (Triturus cristatus), four species of fish: eggplant barbel (Barbus meridionalis), European bullhead (Cottus gobio), Golden spined loach (Sabanejewia aurata) and Danubian Longbarbel Gudgeon  (Gobio uranoscopus) and eight invertebrate species: hermit beetle (Osmoderma eremita), water beetle (Rhysodes sulcatus), stag beetle (Lucanus cervus), great capricorn beetle (Cerambyx cerdo), longhorn beetle (Morimus funereus), Rosalia longicorn (Rosalia alpina), red beetle (Cucujus cinnaberinus) and stone crayfish (Austropotamobius torrentium).

Other species of animals (mammals, reptiles and amphibians) reported in the area of the site: chamois (Rupicapra rupicapra), deer (Cervus elaphus), the European roe deer (Capreolus capreolus), wildcat (Felis silvestris), the pine marten (Martes martes), fat dormouse (Myoxus glis), common dormouse (Muscardinus avellanarius), smooth snake (Coronella Austrian), Aesculapian snake (Elaphe longissima), sand lizard (Lacerta agilis), green lizard (Lacerta viridis), water snake (Natrix tessellata), wall lizard (Podarcis muralis), slow-worm (Anguis fragilis), common red frog ( Rana temporaria ), agile frog ( Rana dalmatina ), common toad (Bufo bufo ), alpine newt (Triturus alpestris) or fire salamander (Salamandra salamander).

A plant vegetates in the grass (registered on the same annex of the European Council Directive  – 92/43 / EEC) of species  Tozzia carpathica , known as popular neck-grass.

The access to the Jiu Valley gorge is as follows:

European Road E79 route: Targu Jiu – Bumbeşti Jiu.

European Road E79 route: Deva – Simeria – Calan – Haţeg – Pui – Baita – Petrosani

Source: ro.wikipedia.org

Parang resort

/0 Comments/in /by

Parang resort is located at an altitude of about 1,800 meters, in the Eastern part of the Jiu Valley, about 5 km away from Petrosani, in the Parang Mountains, with a very attractive tourist potential. The location has become in recent years increasingly popular among tourists, lovers of winter sports especially, thanks to its modern slopes.

Since 2009, the Parang Resort was certified as tourist resort of national interest, being one of the most important resorts in our country. It has chalets and other different types of accommodation, for a large number of tourists, not only from Petrosani, but also from different towns of Hunedoara County, as Deva, Hunedoara or tourists from Craiova, Timisoara and even Bucharest. The access to the venue is to Petrosani on national road DN66, then other 8 km following the county road DJ709 F to Rusu area. From here, the access to the Parang alpine area is served by a chairlift, the second longest in the Romania, after the one from Borsa . You can also ride by car to the resort, but only in summer.

Guests in Parang can choose either an accommodation at the foot of the mountains, near Rusu area, or accommodation in cottages and chalets in the alpine area. They can find here Rusu Hotel, a construction built on the place of the old
Rusu Chalet, which is now a modern building, with a total capacity of 72 beds.

In the mountain resort of Parang there are good possibilities to practice winter sports, with its 9 slopes:  A , B , Europarang , under chairlift , Saivane, C, Culoarul Porcului, Intermediate New Chairlift and Zidul Mortii (Wall of Death). There are slopes for both advanced and beginners, equipped with chairlift, ski-lift and nocturnal installations. In the winter, besides skiing, tourists are also practicing winter sports as sledding, snowboarding, motor scooter rides and paragliding.

Although it is famous especially for its slopes and winter sports, there are many tourists in summer, who enjoy the marked trails that lead to beautiful important sights of Parang and who can practice extreme sports: Off-Road, paragliding, Down-Hill.

Among the main attractions, mountain ridges, steep slopes and deep hollows worth mentioning here, which formed more than 40 glacial lakes, called the pearls of Parang Mountains. You can also find here Calcescu Geological and Botanical Reserve, where there are Calcescu, Pencu, Vidal or Setea Mare Lakes.  Other important glacial lakes in the area are:  Rosiile, which is the deepest lake in these mountains, Iezerul Inghetat or Mija. Another great tourist value of this area is conferred by the Jiu Valley, one of the most impressive cleft of the Carpathians, with unique landscapes and good opportunities for practicing mountain hiking or climbing.

Petrosani City- History

/0 Comments/in /by

The first signs of the people presence in this region are since the Paleolithic era, and then the shepherds of free Dacian period, but the first inhabitants of the nowadays settlement may be considered 20 serfs from Petros , settled in Petroseni in 1640.

Petrosani official story begins in 1788, when the name of the village is recorded in the book “Journey from Potsdam to Constantinople,” by the Prussian officer Gotze. Only in 1818 the name of Petrosani is mentioned in official documents, attesting it in the census with 233 inhabitants, whose main occupation was shepherding.

After 1840, the region will experience a rapid development, after starting the surface mining of the coal discovered in the area that would become the largest coalfield in Romania and one of the most important in Europe.
The history of coal and its discovery in Petrosani is closely connected with the name of Hoffman brothers from Rusca Banatului, also with a nobleman named Maderspach Charles, successor of some large lands in the Jiu Valley, and with the “Society of mines and furnaces” from Braşov, which in 1850 started “the exploitation” in the south-western direction.

Intrigued by those findings, the state advised the mining director from Zlatna (K.K. Berghauptmannschaft) to do research into the Jiu Valley, so that in 1857, 16 fixed points are set to start the future exploitation.  State reserves, therefore, for exploitation in-house, the hills from Petrila, so the north-western part.
On the other hand, the Society from Brasov owned until 1865 a total of 77 parts of land, being financed by the consortium “Wiener Bankverein” from Vienna, and the state reserves for itself 71 such parts. Neither one nor the other started the exploitation, because in the absence of a railway, could not be profitable.

In 1865, following a plan developed by the engineer Freund, the work on the railways started and the new route, from Simeria to Petrosani, officially opens on August 18th 1870.

With that opening track work, it also started the effective exploitation of the coal. The society from Brasov started exploitation in 1867-1868, and on December 24th 1868, the State also started coal mining in-house. But in 1894, the society from Brasov put the mines up for sale and they were purchased by the Company Salgotarjan; in 1896, it took over the state mines too for a period of 12 years. In 1908, the state took back the mines, for exploitation in-house. There were 5418 miners in Petrosani then, who were producing 9,637,400 m3 of coal.

Thus, we can say that after 1848, the city development is closely linked to the development of the mining industry. In 1918, after the Great Union, Petrosani region is included in the new administrative-territorial organization of Hunedoara County. Until 1920, Petrosani was known as Petroseni (name kept even today by peasants and natives, so-called “momârlani”), but from February 14th, 1921 the settlement will become as we know it today, namely Petrosani.

On January 4th 1924, Petrosani becomes town and then, municipality in March 1st, 1968. From 1948, also, the town of Petrosani becomes university centre by establishing “the Coal Institute”, today, the University of Petrosani, that has to become one of the most prestigious Higher Education Institution – mining profile in Romania and Europe.

On the other hand, nowadays, on the administrative territory of Petrosani, there is Livezeni Mine (located on Lunca Street, no. 153), the headquarters of the Hunedoara Energy Complex (Timişoara Street, no. 2), but also a museum, the only one in our country with technical mining profile, Mining Museum (N. Balcescu Street, no. 2), and from 1996,  Petrosani hosts one of the most prestigious research institutions in Romania, National Institute for Research and Development in Mine Safety and Protection to Explosion (INSEMEX ) (General Vasile Milea Street, no. 32-34).

According to the census from 2011, Petrosani city population is 37,160 inhabitants, in declining from the previous census in 2002, when it had registered 45,195 inhabitants. Most inhabitants are Romanian (83.22%). The main minorities are the Hungarian (6.05%) and Roma (1.61%). For 8.55% of the population, the ethnicity is not known. From the religious point of view, most of the inhabitants are Orthodox (76.92%), but there are minorities of Catholics (6.66%), Protestants (2.74%) and Pentecostals (2.1%). For 8.64% of the population, the confession is not known.

Petrosani City – Climate

/0 Comments/in /by

The elongated shape of the city and its isolation by high mountains, have a great influence on climate issues, because the movement of the air masses is from north to south through the transverse cracks Băniţa-Merisor and Surduc-Lainici. The mountains stop the movement of the air masses, so that they stop the air refresh in the depression. Because of that and of the industrialization, the streets, the trees and the grass in the city took a specific aspect of large coalmining regions. City landscape can be compared to that in the Ruhr, where stagnant fog covers the city and stays over because of the surrounding peaks.

There is also in Petrosani another interesting thermal phenomenon, the temperature inversion. This process can be described as stagnations and cooling of the air coming down from the heights of the mountains to the city. Under the influence of those stagnations and cooling, the  temperatures exceeds minus 30 ° C (-31.4 ° C in January 14th 1893), or lower, while in the Parang station situated 900-1000 m above, the lowest temperatures were maximum – 24 ° C. Thus, the frosts in Petrosani are stronger than in the surrounding heights, but not longer than there. Although there is a slowdown of the frosts in Parang, that does not mean that their duration is reduced because the days considered cold, with temperatures below -10 ° C are more numerous on the mountain than in Petrosani, where there is sharp cooling because of the radiation effect. Also due to the cold air accumulation, we can have hoar and spring frosts in May.

By its geographical position and altitude, the climate in Petrosani should be sub- mountainous, but judging by the temperature of the hottest month (July average temperature being 16.7 ° C) and average annual temperature (6.8º), it is more a mountain climate, of law altitude. Average temperatures for July are 3-4 ° C and the annual, 2-3 ° C higher than sub-mountainous climate. Warm days with average temperatures above 10 ° C are lower in Petrosani than in other regions considered colder and the number of summer days with temperature above 25° C is 50 days. The average annual precipitation amounts are 700-800 mm / year.

Days with high cloudiness reach over 200 per year. Because industrial activity is intense and the atmosphere is most polluted, the rains are very frequently. Dust and smoke particles function as condensation nuclei, so mists and drizzles are particularly common in the autumn.

Petrosani has a central-European flora type with arctic-alpine elements in the high parts of the mountains and Mediterranean infiltrations in lower areas and special ecological conditions on chalks especially.

The vegetation is diverse: from alder groves and coppices along watercourses, often bordering ruffled buckthorn and raspberry bushes, to beech forests on hillsides and coniferous forests above them. The largest share in Petrosani vegetation is occupied by deciduous (oak, beech and oak) and meadows. Beech forests mixed with resinous (fir tree, spruce) are met on the slopes of the mountains; here we also find alpine meadows.

Fauna consists of forest animals such as stag, bear, deer and also, badger, fox, wolf, lynx, grouse, capercaillie and others.

Alpine field is populated with typical elements such as chamois, griffon vulture, eagle, etc. Mountain waters were colonized by indigenous trout that lives together withother species such as grayling and broad snout.

Petrosani City – Geography

/0 Comments/in /by

The relief in the administrative territory is extremely uneven, specific to the mountain area with gorges on the course of the two Jiu (Eastern and Western Jiu). Mountain ranges bordering the basin are: Vâlcan to the South, Retezat to the North, Parâng and Godeanu to the East to West, the maximum altitude of 2,519 m being in Parângul Mare Peak. Along the Eastern Jiu a meadow and terrace were formed, the latter having a smooth surface and being a little fragmented. Because it is an intermediate step between the foothills and the meadow, it was valued by the agricultural crops and its presence along the main communication routes.

The Eastern Jiu and four of its tributaries: Maleia, Staicului, Slatinioara and Salatruc flows through Petrosani. The effect of the abundant precipitation is that there are a lot of groundwater and springs in Petrosani.

The city lying among Parang, Godeanu, Retezat and Vâlcan Mountains meets well-defined characteristics of a hydrographic basin, and of a morphological and geographical depression generally.

Considering the shape and position it holds in the whole relief, Petrosani is part of that huge longitudinal corridor that divides the Meridional Carpathians. That is a depression corridor with strong regional accents given not only by the late modeling of Meridional Carpathians, but also by their own structure and by the tectonic defining of that unit in various geological stages.

The first outline of the basin where the municipality of Petrosani lies is from early middle cretaceous orogenic stage of the Carpathian overthrust, but only several million years later in the Oligocene when sinking and sea invasion produced, it started the sedimentation cycle in that basin .

The oldest deposits filling the basin are made of red clay cement conglomerate. Fragments of crystalline rocks and their arrangement in a torrential stratification are a valuable sign for the whole region landform of those times. The surrounding mountains have formed in Oligocene sea a real archipelago undergone to an active erosion. Short fast waters cutting the islands of the archipelago have transported the coarse silt, which filed the seabed and became the conglomerates got up to the surface by the erosion on the southern and western sides of the basin. Oligocene to Miocene transition meant not only sedimentation intensity slowing down and changing the nature of formations (alternating marl and clay), but also the beginning of a deposit phase of a great importance for the region.

In the new clay-marl horizon, which a thickness of approximately 300 m and deposited in different conditions, there were numerous intercalations of sandstone, carbonaceous shale and coal, which attests a quiet region speaking about the earth crust turmoil and a warm climate favorable to lush vegetation growth, which have been formed coal. In the coal horizons there were tree trunks remains of Sequoia, Walnut and Elm. Coal here was also formed from the leafage and trunks of the trees growing today only in places with warm climate, such as Cinnamon and bay trees. The deposits in the soil of Petrosani basin have continued until the end of the Tertiary. In that period there have been deposited alternating conglomerates and sandstones, or gravel and boulders with torrential stratification as well. Of all the sediments deposited in the basin of Petrosani, only the horizon from Oligocene to Miocene transition period contains coal beds.

The geologist Nicolae Oncescu considers that the formation of successive beds of coal produced in this way: “frequent alternation of marine beds made of sandstone and marl with proper lagoonal layers, represented by bituminous rocks and freshwater deposits, represented by coal, allow us to distinguish the numerous sedimentary cycles due to some Eustatic movements of the basin. In such a cycle there were formed marine deposits at the beginning, sometimes conglomeratic, then lagoonal deposits with shale deposits, the cycle ending with a freshwater phase during which a peatery settled in the basin forming a coal bed”.

Because of the rhythmic slowdown and cease of the basin’s sinking, there were formed several coal horizons, very unequal developed and uneven incarbonized. The quality of the coal from the subsoil of Petrosani is due to the tectonic conditions from last part of Tertiary. Therefore, as tectonic movements were very strong, the coal from Petrosani has superior quality. By speeding up the incarbonization process, coal qualities have gained great industrial importance (cokes and distilled). The depression, during its existence as a gulf of the tertiary sea, suffered a slow immersion, it could not be filled with sediments to become land. The silting process produced in the Pliocene and the depression became land. That land was involved in the movements of ascension in block of all of what had become Carpathian chain. After the decrease in water levels, the waters started to erode the land, which previously contributed to its forming. Once the waters started to erode the relief, they removed the layers one by one, and in their valleys they formed gorges. The existence of a succession of rocks with different action at the erosion process, allowed carving of interesting shapes (steep walls, tanks) which reinforce the picturesque region.

The soil in Petrosani Depression belongs to the automorfic and hydromorphic soils, yellowish- brown and brown sylvan podzolic.