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This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This web site reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

Geographical Areas

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GEOGRAPHICAL AREAS

NAME OF THE LOCAL AREA
Bicaz Lake & HydroPower Dam-Ceahlău Massif
COUNTRY
Romania
CITY
Bicaz
THEMATIC AREA
Geography, Chemistry, Biology, Physics, Geology
DESCRIPTION OF THE LOCAL AREA
Lake Bicaz is the largest artificial lake on in Romania; it was created by buiding a dam on the Bistriţa River. The dam is located a few kilometers north of the town of Bicaz, Neamt county. The lake is accessible by car or by coach.
The dam and its hydropower station were built between 1950 and 1960. It has a height of 127 meters, a length of 435 meters, and a maximum width of 119 meters. The lake has a length of 40 kilometers, an area of 33 km² and a maximum volume of 1,250 million m³.
The Oak Hydro-power plant ("Hidrocentrala Stejaru") is equipped with six turbines (four-27.5 MW and two-50 MW turbines) for a total installed capacity of 210 MW. The plant generates an average of 500 GWh of electricity per year, at a capacity factor of 30%; it has produced over 20 billion MWh of electricity in the first 50 years since commissioning.
The lake is a popular tourist destination, especially in summer, when the ferryboat from Bicaz can take tourists for a short cruise on the lake, to enjoy the magnificent view of Mount Ceahlău on the west shore. The mountain, considerd to be Mount Olympus of Romania, (1907 m altitude) hosts a rich fauna, (the Carpathian bear, the wolf, the mountain rooster, the chamois or the viper), and distinctive flora protected by law (edelweiss). The spectacular forms of the conglomerate structures in the central area attract lots of tourist all the year round. At Potoci, a few kilometers north of the town Bicaz, there is a biological research centre, equipped with a small submersible used for underwater explorations.
The Ceahlău Massif is one of the most notorious mountains of Romania. It is part of the Bistriţa Mountains range of the Eastern Carpathians division, in Neamţ County, in the Moldavia region. The two most important peaks are Toaca (1904 m altitude) and Ocolaşul Mare (1907 m altitude). It is bounded to the east by the Bistriţa River and Lake Bicaz, to the south by the Bicaz River. From the south, the main access point is the village of Izvorul Muntelui, located 12 km north from the town of Bicaz. To the north, Mount Ceahlău is also accessible from Durău.

PICTURES
The Lake Izvorul Muntelui The Lake Izvorul Muntelui, also known as Lake Bicaz, is the largest[1] artificial lake on the interior waters of Romania; it was created after the completion of a dam built on the river Bistrița. The dam is located a few kilometers north of the town of Bicaz. The lake has a length of 40 kilometers, an area of 33 km² and a maximum volume of 1,250 million m³.
Bicaz Dam It is a concrete gravity dam built and unites with Obcina Mountain Gicovanu Horst, located upstream of the confluence of Izvorul Muntelui with Bistrita. The dam was built between 1950 and 1960 and is used to generate hydroelectricity at the Bicaz-Stejaru hydro-plant. It has a height of 127 meters, a length of 435 meters, and a maximum width of 119 meters. Geologic is located in an area predominantly siliceous sandstone (sandstone Tarcău), the rest packs a layer of shale and conglomerate. The land has a strong foundation fissures. The structure height to fall 30 blocks (wafer) upstream separated by joints sealed with concrete wedges and sheets of copper.
Hydropower \"Dimitrie Leonida\" The Hydro-power plant is equipped with six turbines (four-27.5 MW and two-50 MW turbines) for a total installed capacity of 210 MW. The plant generates an average of 500 GWh of electricity per year, at a capacity factor of 30%; it has produced over 20 billion MWh of electricity in the first 50 years since commissioning. As semiaerian type, the Hydropower includes six generating units with Francis turbines with a vertical axis, of which 4 with an installed capacity of 27.50 MW and 2 to 50 MW (210 MW total). Two cranes of 125 tons load handling aggregates assists. Water is released downstream through a pool of tranquility, where Pângăraţi reach the lake through a channel run by 1,185 m outdoor substation voltage is 110/220 KV delivery.
Aquatic Reservation of Bicaz The lake belongs to the category of eutrophic lakes - oligotrophic, with the specific features o very large volume and area, settlement in a mountain area with altitude, annual changes in levels of up to 25-30 m, the existence of thermal stratification due to stagnating lengthy water lake basin in the presence of great depths and regular denudation of a large complex of surfaces - approx. 1,500 ha - for a period of up to six months. The area belongs to moderately warm gear mountain climate (average annual temperature of 7 to 7.5 ° C), mild winters (average temperature in January -4 ÷ -5 ° C) and moderately warm summers (average temperature in July 16.5 ÷ 17 ° C), effects of the particularities linked to the existence of large water surface. Protected area, status of aquatic reservation of 150 hectares. Lake water fauna includes species such as roach, chub, huck, moioagă, barbel, bleak, trout (indigenous, lake and rainbow), gudgeon, roach, broad snout.
Biological Research Station \"Petre Jitariu\" Potoci On the left bank, opposite the reserve, there is a trout farming in Potoci, where there is and Biological Research Station \"Petre Jitariu\" belonging to the \"Alexandru Ioan Cuza\" University. The resort is equipped with a bathyscaphe - for research, and its being a guest in 1993 oceanographer Jacques Cousteau. The research station includes also a laboratory evaluation of lake water quality.
Bathyscaphe A bathyscaphe is a free-diving self-propelled deep-sea submersible, consisting of a crew cabin similar to a bathysphere, but suspended below a float rather than from a surface cable, as in the classic bathysphere design. To descend, a bathyscaphe floods air tanks with sea water, but unlike a submarine the water in the flooded tanks cannot be displaced with compressed air to ascend, because the water pressures at the depths for which the craft was designed to operate are too great.