The Otman-Bozdag Mud Volcano on the Baku Peninsula of Azerbaijan erupted on Sunday 23 September 2018, for the first time since February 2017. The eruptions began with an event slightly before 9.00 am local time, which produced a column of flame rising 200-300 m into the air. A second, similar eruption occurred an hour later. A number of deep cracks have appeared on the flanks of the volcano, with the deepest estimated to reach about 40 m bellow the surface.
Eruption on the Otman-Bozdag Mud Volcano on 23 September 2018. Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of Azerbaijan Republic.
Mud volcanoes are the result not of hot magma rising up from deep within the
Earth, but of liquids or gasses being released suddenly from rocks into
soft sediments, resulting in dramatic upwelling of mud and gas. There are over 400 mud volcanoes in Azerbaijan, more than half of all the mud volcanoes in Asia. These are fuelled by a deep, hydrocarbon-rich mud reservoir beneath the peninsula, which seeps material to the surface across the region.
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