Soils
The most fertile soils of the country occur generally on the plains of Moldavia and parts of Walachia. This is the black earth known as chernozem, which is rich in humus. Most of the black earth and some of the brown forest soils also have a high loess content, which tends to make them light, fine, and workable. These rich varieties also occur on the lowlands of the west and northwest and on the Transylvanian plateau. Lighter brown soils are more prevalent in rolling lands and in foothills throughout the country.
Soils become progressively poorer at higher elevations and as the slopes become steeper. Layered soils, which take over as elevations increase, vary widely and tend to become thinner and poorer at higher elevations until bare rock is exposed. In some lower areas, where there are areas of brown forest soils, erosion is a serious problem. Although the sandy and alluvial soils along the Danube River are of excellent quality and are valuable where drainage is good, those in a fairly wide belt along the river are too moist for cultivation of most crops.
Vegetation
Before the land was cleared, lowland Romania was a wooded steppe area, but the natural vegetation has largely been removed and replaced by cultivated crops. Forests still predominate on the highlands. Of the country's total area, about 63 percent is agricultural land; 27 percent is forest; and 10 percent is bare mountain or water surface or is used in some way that makes it unsuitable for forest or cultivation. Of the agricultural land, 65 percent is under cultivation, 30 percent is pasture and meadow, and 5 percent is orchard and vineyard (see ch. 15).
Forests remain on most of the slopes that are too steep for easy cultivation. Most of the larger forests are in Transylvania and western Moldavia in a roughly doughnut-shaped area that surrounds the Transylvanian plateau. Broadleaf deciduous and mixed forests occur at lower elevations; forests at higher levels are coniferous with needle-leaf evergreens. There are alpine sheep pastures at 5,000- and 6,000-foot elevations, and tundra vegetation occurs at some of the highest locations.
Orchards are found in all sections of the country. Peaches can be grown in Walachia, but only those fruits that can tolerate colder winters are raised in Moldavia and Transylvania. Vineyards, especially on the Walachian mountain slopes, have become more important since World War II, and wine, although it is not of a quality that receives international acclaim, is exported.
Natural Resources
The most important natural resources are the expanses of rich arable land, the rivers, and the forests. The land is agriculturally self-sufficient and, when fertilizers become more readily available, crop yields will be appreciably larger. The rivers have a high potential for the generation of hydroelectric power. Most of them rise in the mountains and fall to the plains quite rapidly and could be profitably harnessed. Rainfall distribution is good throughout the year and would provide more than an ordinarily dependable source of waterpower. The potential was only beginning to be tapped in 1971 (see ch. 15).
Large fields of oil and natural gas are the most important sub-surface assets. Both are of the best quality in Europe, with the possible exception of those near Baku in the Soviet Union. Liquid petroleum is pumped from large fields in the Ploiesti area and also from an area in central Moldavia. Natural gas is available under a large part of the Transylvanian plateau.