At the end of a course of over 2,840 km, collecting the water from a vast hydrological basin that exceeds 8% of the area of Europe, the Danube (the second largest river of the Continent) has during the last 16,000 years built at its mouth with the Black Sea one of the most beautiful deltas in Europe, perhaps in the whole world. The Danube Delta is famous as one of the greatest wetlands of the Earth.

The current geomorphology of the Danube Delta is the result of the interaction between the river and the sea during the Holocene period. At the beginning of the Holocene, when the level of the sea reached approximately the nowadays level, there was the so-called Danube Gulf. At its mouth, between the Jibrieni promontory to the north and the Murighiol- Dunavãt promontory to the south, was formed the Letea- Caraorman levees. The alluvial materials were carried along the sea shore, by the marine currents, to the north, to the mouth of the Nistru, Bug and Nipru rivers.

The oldest Danube branch, Sfantu Gheorghe, flew into the sea through a large passage situated to the southern part of Letea - Caraorman levees forming the very first Danube delta: the Sfantu Gheorghe Ist Delta. more details...