Mud Volcanoes
See also: Gobustan National Park and Gobustan State ReserveIt is estimated that 300 of the planet's estimated 700 mud volcanoes sit in Eastern Azerbaijan and the Caspian Sea.
Mud volcanoes are pervasive within Azerbaijan. In local language, mud volcanoes are also known as "pilpila", "yanardag", "bozdagh", "ahtarma", "gaynarja" etc. There are over 220 mud volcanoes in Azerbaijan (Absheron Peninsula, Gobustan, southeast Shirvan plain, Samur-Davachi plain terrane, both Absheron and Baku Archipelago. The biggest are Galmas, Toragay, Big Kanizadag etc. Most of them have a cone shape. Their height varies in the range from 20 to 400m, whereas base diameter may vary from 100 to 4500m.
In 2001, one mud volcano 15 kilometers from Baku made world headlines when it suddenly started spewing flames 15 meters high.
Read more about this topic: Geology Of Azerbaijan
Famous quotes containing the word mud:
“We sank a foot deep in water and mud at every step, and sometimes up to our knees, and the trail was almost obliterated, being no more than that a musquash leaves in similar places, where he parts the floating sedge. In fact, it probably was a musquash trail in some places.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)