PRUT CORAL REEFS

The "Prut reefs" or toltrels are concentrated in a small area covering the rivers Larga, Vilia, Lopatnic, Draghiste, Racovat, Ciuhur and Camenca, flowing into the Middle Prut area. Even though some of these reefs are very fragmented, the chain is joined together over a distance of about 200 km. Thus, the Prut toltrels are not located directly on the bank of the Prut but in the basin of the related rivers, a few kilometres from the left bank. These limestone reefs are formed from the remains of corals, shells, algae, animals and other sea creatures that are 10 to 20 million years old. These reefs have the same history as the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, except that the Great Barrier Reef is almost entirely underwater with cliffs emerging from the ocean 2 to 5 m high, while these land-based reefs can be over 100 m high.

Reefs of Buteşti: Creeks at Camenca have carved out the narrow chain of picturesque looking reefs called reefs of Buteşti, surrounded on three sides by the river and its tributaries. The reefs are 2 km long, 125 m wide and 40 m high. They are pierced by caves and caverns, serving as a refuge for large animals during the Ice Age and for man in the Paleolithic period. They owe their composition to the corals and skeletons of marine animals (molluscs, crabs, sea urchins, and more rarely seals and dolphins in limestone rock).