STREAMS AND SALT-WATER SOURCES: ETHNOMANAGEMENT, CURRENT MANAGEMENT AND SALTSCAPE IN THE MOLDAVIAN AREA (CATCHMENTS OF SIRET AND PRUT, ROMANIA)

Abstract

This study aims to highlight the importance of water reserves in the life of local communities and to quantify the value of basic elements that can affect their chemical properties (salinity, pH). Most waters in eastern Romania are affected by a relatively high degree of salinity; they are very hard or they are practically polluted. The waters within the Carpathian mountainous and sub-mountainous areas can be influenced directly by the emergence of salt deposits at the surface. Waters in the Moldavian plateau are influenced by the emergence of sources supplying from the water table, which washes out the salinized substrate. There is an obvious difference between the salinity degree of the sources within the salinized areas and that of the corresponding hydrographical arteries. The most salted sources are found in the area of Moldavian Subcarpathians, where the salt deposits emerge at the surface. The low salinity of bigger arteries is provided by the important liquid flows, which dilute the mount of salts. High salinity and pH are recorded mainly in case of small rivers, with low flows. Salt-water sources are used locally; in this respect, there is a traditional folk management (ethnomanagement); they find a positive use in household consumption, in food preservation, in cheese making in isolated mountainous folds, and in protecing fodder against rodents. The ethnoarchaeology of salt-water sources highlights the past and present usage of salt waters in the catchments of Siret and Prut (Moldavia, Romania). Salt waters have contributed to ensuring food (through conservation) during non-productive seasons. Paradoxically, the ethnomanagement of salt waters is a local success, while modern management must further develop in order to ensure a high quality of freshwaters. Soil salinity provides a unique landscape, with specific plants, animals and customs, known as saltscape. This is dominant in areas with excess NaCl or KCl salts.

Keywords

• chemistry
• ethnoarchaeology
• landscape
• springs
• hydrographical network