Mineral and thermal waters of Romania

The search for geothermal resources for energy purposes began in the early 60s, based on a detailed geological program for hydrocarbon resources (that had extensive budgets). More than 250 wells have been drilled over the years, whose depths are between 800 and 3500 m. They revealed the presence of low-enthalpy geothermal resources (40-120 °C), which enabled the identification of many geothermal areas, most of them in the western part and three in the southern part of Romania. A recent study (involving the University of Oradea and Transgex S.A.) identified 223 wells drilled after 1965. The completion and experimental exploitation (part of geological investigations) of over 100 wells in the past 40 years enabled the evaluation of exploitable heat from geothermal reservoirs. More than 80 % of the wells are artesian producers; 68 of them (all the wells drilled in the Pannonian Basin) require anti-scaling treatment, and 4 are reinjection wells. The most comprehensive synthesis regarding the mineral and thermal waters of Romania belongs to Pricajan (Apele minerale si termale din România. Ed. Tehnica, Bucuresti, 1972) and Bandrabur et al. (Harta apelor mineral si termale din420 România, scara 1:1.000.000, Atlasul Geologic. Ministerul Geologiei, Institutul de Geologie Si421 Geofizica, Bucuresti, 1984). The work published by Pricajan (Apele minerale si termale din România. Ed. Tehnica, Bucuresti, 1972) contains a classification, from the chemical point of view, of the accumulations and occurrences of mineral waters into three major types: salted, sulfurous-sulfated and carbonated. A detailed hydrogeological description of the main accumulations of mineral waters (some of them with variable physical properties: thermalism, radioactivity), as well as their use, is also included. © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016.