Salt diapir exotic blocks from Bădila Nature Reserve (Buzău Land Geopark, Romania)

A drone-based textural evaluation

Abstract

The Nature Reserve „Bădila Limestone Blocks“, located on the Buzău River in the Buzău Land Geopark (Romania), is known for the occurrence of exotic limestone blocks (Tithonian) included in the Badenian Salt Breccia Horizon. An investigation of the Reserve area using an unmanned aerial vehicle was carried out. The drone-based study of the Bădila Geological Reserve generated a high resolution digital image of the exotic blocks distribution. A small number of large blocks (12 blocks with diameters ranging from 4 to 20 m) occur together with a large number of smaller blocks (414 blocks with diameters from 0.1 to 4 m). The Bădila exotic limestone blocks were resedimented by fluvial currents, suffered a size-sorting and their frequency diminished downstreamward.