Mud volcanoes | Most Wonderful Nature

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#10  Mud Volcanoes,More info:azconsulatela

Azerbaijan’s mud volcanoes are a unique natural phenomenon. Almost 400 of the world’s 800 mud volcanoes are located in Azerbaijan, but with respect to their number, variety and activity the Azerbaijani mud volcanoes are extraordinary.

At 410 m Torağay in the south of Qobustan is not only the largest mud volcano in the Caucasus but in the entire world. The Qoturdağ volcano is the world’s only mud volcano that has continued to erupt at regular intervals over a period of many years.

From time to time new islands emerge from the Caspian Sea as a result of the underwater activities of the mud volcanoes and the sea hides many mud volcano cones. Some islands of the Bakı Archipelago – Xəzər-Zirə, Zənbil, Qarasu, Gil, Səngi-Muğan, Çigmil and more – are of volcanic origin.

Volcanic mud is rich in macro- and micro-elements and has great therapeutic effect on certain disorders of the central nervous system, as well as on some gynecological and other ailments. The mud pools contain highly effective therapeutic substances such as bromine, magnesium and iodine. Volcanic mud is also used for the manufacture of cosmetic products.

#9   Eruption of six volcanoes expected in Azerbaijan,More info:azernews

#8    The mud volcano capital of the world,More info:edition.cnn

#7    Mud volcanoes,More info:silkwaytravelblog.wordpress

Mud volcanoes are channels for releasing pressurized gas and mineral water from great depths of the earth (even 812km) and depositing them on the surface where they form cones that can reach up to 700m in height, although usually they are about 1m high. The width, on the other hand,  can range from a few centimeters to a few kilometers. They are also close cousins to magmatic volcanoes. Both types of volcanoes can erupt powerfully and throw flames to great heights, both can spew out millions of cubic meters of clay from the bowels of the earth, and both can create islands if they erupt from the floor of the sea (Source: Azerbaijan International). However, unlike magmatic volcanoes, mud volcanoes are at ambient temperature and may even be cool. Another distinctive feature of mud volcanoes is that  they are one of the visible signs of the presence of gas and oil deep beneath the surface of land or sea.

Mud volcanoes in Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan and its Caspian coastline are home to nearly half of all mud volcanoes on earth – there are between 200 and 300 of them in the country, located mainly in the eastern part fo Azerbaijan. The two largest mud volcanoes in Azerbaijan are Kinezadagh (397m high) and Turaghay (400m high). When the first one erupted on the 10th of  October 2001 it sent flames shooting out 300m into the air, the highest recorded flame height from a mud volcano eruption.

#6    The mud volcanoes of the Salton Sea,More info:mavensphotoblog

The Imperial Valley-Salton  Sea region is an endlessly fascinating area to me for many reasons: the agriculture, the infrastructure that delivers one-fifth the (legislated) flow of the Colorado River to this remote desert valley, the unusual nature of some of the people you encounter, and just the way I feel very close to history here.

But the Imperial Valley-Salton Sea area, also known as the Salton Trough, is also geologically interesting.  Bounded by faults on its east and west sides, the region is sinking at a rate of 1 to 2″ per year, and more during earthquakes. Here, a series of divergent and transform faults are ripping the crust apart, forming a spreading center or a rift valley, much like that of Iceland and the mid-Atlantic ridge. Magma is believed to exist little more than a mile beneath your feet in a plume estimated to be about 20 miles long, 4 miles wide, and at least one to two miles thick.  This magma produces a large, upward heat flow that powers geothermal plants, as well as numerous hot springs, mud volcanoes and mud pots.

#5    Why This Massive Mud Volcano Turned Deadly,More info:nationalgeographic

#4    THE STRANGE PHENOMENON OF MUD VOLCANOES – ROMANIA’S LUNAR LANDSCAPE,More info:romaniatourstore

In recent years, the Mud Volcanoes located in Berca, Buzau County, have become a frequented tourist destination and probably the most famous geological monument in Romania. The strange scenery of the cracked clay, the various colors of the “lava” emerged from the clay, transformed the place into a natural studio for photographic essays, decoration for SF film productions, fashion editorials and advertising clips. For photographers, it’s a generous subject and, to some extent, easy: it’s hard not to take good pictures of active volcanoes, even if they are not real. For many, the mud volcanoes are very similar to an eerie lunar landscape.

#3    Mud volcanoes play a huge role in the global methane cycle,More info:earth

A international team of scientists has found that mud volcanoes play a major role in the global methane cycle that has been largely overlooked and underestimated. Sediment samples collected by the researchers at a depth of 200 meters in an underwater mud volcano contained microorganisms that were found to produce about 90 percent of the methane released from that depth.

In a process called subduction, Earth’s thin oceanic crust is shifted underneath the thicker continental crust. Underwater mud volcanoes are located at these active plate margins, containing a mix of liquids and gases that are forced up from below the Earth’s surface.

The experts wanted to better understand how the subduction of oceanic plates may influence the microbial activity associated with the global methane cycle. The investigation was focused on a cluster of underwater volcanoes located near Japan.

With the help of a Japanese drilling ship, the team recovered sediment from 200 meters deep in the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. In the samples, the researchers discovered bright fragments of gas hydrate, a methane-water compound which under certain temperature-pressure conditions is not in liquid or gas form, but is actually in a solid form.

An extensive analysis revealed that 90 percent of the methane was produced by microorganisms in the seabed, while only a small part was formed at great depths through chemical processes. The extremely active microbes are fed by fluids pushed through the powerful sediments after subduction.

#2    Visiting the mud volcanoes of Gobustan ,More info:snarkynomad

So while Baku is busy spending ridiculous amounts of money on prestige projects and racing tracks, Azerbaijan isn’t quite as showy when it comes to some of the lesser-known attractions throughout the country. Taxi drivers and nearby residents will know all about them, but it doesn’t look like they get much in the way of investment capital to spruce things up for passersby.

Case in point: The mud volcanoes of Gobustan, which are entirely undeveloped, having merely a dirt road leading up to them, and no signs. Anywhere.

In fact, the road was so bad since it had rained a few days before that the taxi driver stopped halfway and said it was too much. The car couldn’t take it anymore, and we’d have to walk the rest of the way. So he literally left us in the middle of a mud-soaked, semi-grassy field in the middle of nowhere and said “go that way,” and “that way” was another 2 or 3 kilometers, followed by a haphazard Google Maps search for a completely unmarked site.

#1   Explored: Balochistan’s mud volcanoes,More info:dawn

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