What dangers can mud volcanoes pose? Useful properties of mud volcanoes. Dirt as a natural disaster

For example, the eruption of the Colombian volcano Zambe in 1870 was compared by eyewitnesses to a fire-breathing mountain. A column of fire bursting out of the Zambe crater illuminated an area within a radius of 30 km. Before the explosion, a powerful underground rumble was heard (a characteristic harbinger of a mud eruption), and then a pillar of fire shot up into the sky. The flames burned for 11 days. In 1933, during the eruption of one of the Romanian volcanoes, a burning gas “candle” 300 m high shot up.

With each eruption, the volcano increases in size due to the ejected portions of dirt. The highest height of mud volcanoes is 700m, but the diameter of such formations can be about 10km. This type of volcano has a characteristic feature: during an eruption, they emit small molten particles of dirt into the atmosphere, “lapilli,” which are sometimes carried by air currents over distances of up to 20 km. These particles are hollow, structureless bodies, and if a person falls under precipitation from lapilli, he will have the feeling that hot rain is falling.

Mud volcanoes are quite restless formations. Some of them, such as Hayrantekyan, Lokbatan (Azerbaijyan), erupt once every few years. Others (Cheildag, Touragai) can “sleep” for 60-100 years. Volcanic mud in some cases has healing properties due to its rich mineral composition. The most famous “medicinal” volcanoes in the Russian Federation include Hephaestus and Tizdar, located in the Krasnodar region.

Compared to magmatic volcanoes, mud volcanoes are relatively harmless and do not cause much damage to people. The exception is when people accidentally find themselves at the epicenter of an explosion. A similar thing happened in 1902 during the eruption of the Bozdag-Kobi volcano. Shepherds drove a flock of sheep to the top of the crater lake.

A column of flame that suddenly burst out of the bowels of the earth destroyed both people and animals. Sometimes powerful explosions eject very large amounts of dirt. For example, in the eastern part of the Kerch Peninsula there is the Voshodovsky mud volcano. In 1930, its eruption was accompanied not only by fire, but also by the release of mud mixed with oil. The height of the mud flow reached 3 m, and on the island. Several houses in Dzharjava were filled with mud up to the roofs.

Why do mud volcanoes wake up?

This happened in May 2006, when employees of the gas production company PT Lapindo Brantas provoked a mud eruption of the Lucy volcano in Sidoarjo (Indonesia) with drilling operations. By September, mud flows had flooded villages and rice fields, and 11,000 people were forced to relocate. Shrimp farms were destroyed and factories were closed. By 2008, about 36,000 peasants from the villages closest to the disaster site left their homes, as the mud spread over another 6.5 km².

In addition, the volcano began to collapse under its own weight, which threatens to form a basin with a depth of about 150 m. According to preliminary forecasts, the flow of mud from Lucy will continue to flow for about 30 years. So, although for the most part mud volcanoes do not pose a danger, you should not take them lightly.

Volcanoes can be exciting, exciting, but at the same time dangerous. Any one of them is capable of causing harmful or fatal phenomena both during an eruption and during the dormant period. Understanding what a volcano can do is the first step in mitigating its danger. But even if scientists have studied a particular peak for decades, this does not mean that they know absolutely everything about it. Volcanoes are natural systems in which there is always an element of unpredictability. What threats do these giants pose?

Lava flows

Lava is molten rock that flows from cracks or volcanic vents. Depending on the composition and temperature, it can be very liquid or very sticky (viscous). Liquid has a higher temperature and flows faster; it can form entire rivers or spread throughout the surrounding area in separate streams. Viscous flows are cooler, travel short distances, and sometimes create lava domes or plugs in craters.

Lava flows from Kilauea volcano in Hawaii

Most lava flows pose no danger to humans because they move slowly and are easy to escape. However, having a temperature of about +1000...+2000 °C, they burn everything in their path, destroying buildings, vegetation, and road infrastructure. Sometimes streams move at rapid speed. For example, lava can flow down slopes at a speed of about 100 km/h.

Pyroclastic flows

Pyroclastic flows are explosive volcanic phenomena. They are a mixture of dust, rock fragments, ash and hot gases. Such flows can move at speeds of up to 1000 km/h, easily overcome obstacles, spread over the water surface, and sometimes their upper, lighter part separates from the main mass and moves on its own.

All are considered fatal, since their temperature reaches +400 °C. Given the speed combined with the power and high heat, it is safe to say that it is almost impossible to avoid their destructive power. These volcanic phenomena destroy everything they encounter along the way, burning or crushing into small pieces.

One of the most striking examples of destruction caused by pyroclastic flows is the city. When the Soufrière volcano began to erupt in 1996, a mixture of gas and volcanic materials rained down on the populated area and completely destroyed it. Now this city is in ruins, and on its territory you can see the remains of buildings that were destroyed or buried under a layer of ash.

Ashfalls

Ash falls, also known as volcanic fallout, occur when tephra (particles of volcanic material ranging from a few millimeters to tens of centimeters in diameter) are ejected from a crater during an eruption. It falls to the ground at some distance from the volcanic vent (from several meters to several kilometers), and during strong explosions it enters the stratosphere and is carried hundreds or even thousands of kilometers.

If a person is far from the volcano, he is not in danger of being damaged by large fragments of tephra. However, some ashfalls contain toxic chemicals that are absorbed by plants or enter drinking water sources and can be hazardous to the health of both people and animals. Large tephra particles pose a serious threat, especially after rain. Much of the damage caused by ashfall occurs when wet ash and slag settle on the roofs of buildings - unable to withstand the heavy weight, the houses collapse.

If released into the atmosphere, it can lead to global consequences. If the ash cloud is too large, it can block sunlight and cause a volcanic winter. The ash plume then caused a drop in temperature across the planet, leading to extreme weather conditions, crop failure and famine.

Lahars

Lahar of Gilanggung volcano in Indonesia

Lahars are a specific type of debris flow consisting of water and volcanic debris. They are formed during collapses of the slopes of a volcano, when a heap of stones and debris rushes down, mixing along the way with melted glaciers, water from volcanic lakes or rainfall. Their consistency resembles wet concrete, they flow down the flanks of the volcano at speeds of up to 80 km/h and cover distances of up to several tens of kilometers. Often, mixing with hot lava, lahars maintain temperatures of up to +60...+70 °C throughout their entire path.

Such flows are not as fast and hot as pyroclastic flows, but they can be extremely destructive. In 1985, during a volcanic eruption in Colombia, a huge lahar completely destroyed the city of Armero and killed 23 thousand people. Fortunately, most mudflows are detected in advance by acoustic (sound) monitors, which allows for timely evacuation.

Volcanic gases

Volcanic gases are an equally effective component of any eruption, and can become one of the most deadly. Most of the gases released as a result of volcanoes contain water vapor and are relatively harmless, but erupting peaks also produce carbon dioxide (CO2), sulfur dioxide (SO2), hydrogen sulfide (H2S), fluorine gas (F2), fluoride hydrogen (HF) and other substances. Under certain conditions, they all pose a mortal danger.

Carbon dioxide is not poisonous, but it displaces oxygen-containing air and is odorless and colorless. Due to its higher density, it accumulates in depressions in the vicinity of the mountain and leads to suffocation of people and animals. It can also dissolve in water and collect in lake bottom sediments; In some situations, the water in these bodies of water suddenly releases huge bubbles of carbon dioxide that kill vegetation, livestock and people living nearby. Such an incident occurred in Lake Nyos in Cameroon in 1986 - more than 1,700 people and 3,500 heads of livestock in nearby villages suffocated from the carbon dioxide released from its bottom.

Sulfur dioxide and hydrogen sulfide have a rotten egg smell. When combined with water vapor, SO2 forms aggressive sulfuric acid (H2SO4), which is poisonous even in small quantities. In large volumes, it turns into volcanic mist and spreads throughout the area, irritating soft tissues (eyes, nose, throat, lungs, etc.). If sulfur-based aerosols reach the upper atmosphere, they can block sunlight and destroy ozone, leading to long-term negative consequences for the climate.

One of the most unpleasant volcanic substances is fluorine gas. It is yellow-brown in color and is extremely poisonous. Like carbon dioxide, fluorine accumulates in lowlands, but poses a much greater danger. A person who gets into a place where gas accumulates develops severe burns, and the production of calcium in the skeletal system is disrupted. Even after dissipation, the gas is absorbed into plants and continues to poison people and animals for a long time. Following the eruption of Iceland's Laki volcano in 1783, famine and fluoride poisoning led to the death of more than half the country's livestock and nearly a quarter of the population.

No wonder they say “live like on a volcano.” Every person who, by the will of fate, was born and lives near these peaks is in constant danger. And the main task of scientists and volcanologists is not only to study the capabilities of volcanoes, but also to try with all their might to prevent the threat that they pose to human life and the natural environment.

Hey everyone! I will continue my independent “trip” around Azerbaijan. Did you know that by quantity mud volcanoes Azerbaijan ranks first in the world? If you don’t lie, there are about three hundred of them throughout the territory. We have long dreamed of visiting one of the active volcanoes that are not bursting with magma, of course, although seeing hot lava in real life is also interesting. And here we had the opportunity to look at a unique mud volcano. Most of all I wanted to bend over the muzzle and capture the fact itself mud eruption. And, you know, we were lucky, although the Azerbaijanis said that this could not be predicted.

My guidebook made it clear that the closest place where you can feast your eyes on mud volcanoes is Gobustan, well, that means we’re going to Gobustan.

According to the standard, we get out of the capital by bus. Where? It doesn’t matter where, the main thing is to be on the road away from the crowd and on the way to the intended goal. And from there it’s as it should be.

They literally dropped us off at a gas station; there were no houses or even barns nearby, only cars scurrying around. Since the landscape was not rich in greenery, I immediately noticed the highest mud volcano. It seemed like it was at least three kilometers away. Just in case, I checked the information with the gas station employees. The guys claimed that it would take about 1.5 hours, hmm, we'll see. Since the acquaintance was easy, you can ask them to leave their bags here, the guys seem to be normal. One thing was stressful, it was almost 5 pm, which means we had very little time before darkness.

Mud volcanoes near Gobustan.

And the guys scared Mila with stupid snakes, so she walked almost the entire way, intently scanning the ground under her feet. To tell the truth, the landscape was dull, so my companion did not lose anything. Everywhere you look, there is semi-steppe, a volcanic hill can be seen in the distance, and not a soul around.

They say that mud volcanoes are closely related to gas and oil deposits, and I believe this statement, because at first I had to constantly jump over the black sludge. The area seemed so lifeless that I thought there were no people here, except shepherds (judging by the artiodactyl tracks on the dry road), and even less tourists at all. Therefore, I was very surprised when a minibus appeared in the distance. We didn’t have time to get close to it, but I already guessed that this was an excursion delivery.

Soon a blue stripe of water appeared on the horizon, making the landscape resemble deserted Mars with mirages of oases. Yes, it was useless to count on a “ride” at that time of day. The only bus drove away in the opposite direction, and on the left in the excavated quarries there were only stationary tractors and excavators.

We had already walked for quite a long time, and visually the large mountain was not even a meter closer, then we decided to turn a little to the side in order to at least have time to examine the small volcano. This is what it means to live in completely different natural conditions; distances in forest, mountain and steppe zones are visually measured in completely different ways.

We thought that the volcano was still far away, but in fact we had almost approached it, it’s just not too big, as my eyes “lied” to me. We climbed the small mud volcano in no time. Unfortunately, he was “asleep.” But I really wanted to see the eruption. A dark, cracked line of mud came out of the narrow vent. Apparently he “fell asleep” quite recently.

While I was getting upset, Mila realized that she was also mistaken about the distances and said that the “great” volcano was just a stone’s throw away, maybe a 15-minute walk.

She didn’t go herself, but I decided not to leave empty-handed (or rather, with a camera).

As I walked towards the top, I noticed fresh mud streams. Hooray! So there is a chance that this volcano is active right now. In addition, I realized that the dirt does not come out only from the very top, but rather the opposite, most of it has narrow exits at the bottom and in the middle.

The volcano, indeed, turned out to be the highest, and behind it I saw several more similar ones, but smaller. I had enough spectacles here too. In a wide vent with a diameter of 2-3 meters, gray slurry gurgled slowly. I took a chance and carefully raised my palm to the surface to understand its temperature. There was no sensation of warmth, so I touched the gray mass with my fingertip. It's cool, it's absolutely cold and very viscous. If it weren’t for the strong wind, you could have smeared yourself with it even if you didn’t want to.

Frankly, I struggled with the desire to sit on the edge of the “crater” and put my feet there. However, I remembered that time was short, so I simply rolled out a few lumps of fresh mud, which a little later would “petrify to death,” and went back to Mila. This dirt leaves a very pleasant feeling on your hands; I remember the line from the advertisement “your skin becomes soft and silky.” I think this is just about volcanic mud.

As you can see, there is nothing super dangerous about them, just dirt and dirt.

Mila thought that she had missed all the most interesting things, but on the way back, right in front of us, out of nowhere, a large crater appeared, at the bottom of which we saw the already familiar mud vents. In this place, they looked more interesting.

Mud volcanoes of Azerbaijan on the map.

We visited volcanoes closer to the sea, but the main tourist route is on the other side of the highway, on the opposite side from the sea (named Gobustan Mud Volcano on the map).

When we stood at the gas station again, I looked at my watch, exactly 40 minutes walk from the large mud volcano, which means the distance is approximately 2-2.5 km.

Spending the night at a gas station, and indeed in the bare steppe, is not fun. Although dusk was slowly and mercilessly gathering over us, we stubbornly walked along the side of the road with our arms outstretched. After some time, a car with several young people picked us up. There was no point in driving far; we only needed wheels for a more suitable place for the tent. I must say that it is very difficult to choose a cozy overnight stay when there is bare steppe with dry, prickly grass for many kilometers around. But the guys turned out to be talkative and very pleasant, they entertained us with conversations all the way, until I realized that there was no point in torturing either myself or them, and asked to stop at the first low fir trees that came across. We slammed the car door, thanking for the pleasant company, but the car was in no hurry to leave. A minute later the driver came out and gave us a small gift in the form of a key chain. Whatever you say, it’s nice.

As I thought, the bush is so heavily plowed that it’s impossible to even stand there, let alone pitch a tent. Looking around, we noticed across the road an Azerbaijani “tea shop”, from where loud music was coming from. I noticed that such establishments are like oases in the middle of the desert, where you can quench your thirst with strong tea and conversation with the locals, and, among other things, the owners plant entire alleys of trees and green lawns around their “business”. Within 10 minutes we agreed with the cafe workers to spend the night in a tent on their territory. Of course, they offered us a springy Soviet bed right on the street, but we politely turned it down.

I completely forgot to say that this is the last day of my stay in Azerbaijan. I no longer remember why we decided to leave this country so early. Maybe because we had enough of Turkey with similar landscapes, maybe we were afraid of not being able to make it to the more northern parts of the world due to the weather. I have to admit that free travelers have enough limitations without time, for example the same weather. Especially if there are not many warm things in your bag. One thing I know for sure is that I will definitely return to this country to explore it in more detail. And no less interesting Armenia awaits us ahead. ?! I'll tell you everything a little later, and if you subscribe to the news, you will always be the first to know the most interesting things from. See you again, friends.

Who among us has not dreamed of taking a mud bath under the warm summer rays - and doing this not in some sanatorium under the supervision of a vigilant nurse, but lying in the healing thick slurry of a mud volcano, so dense that there is no fear of going to the bottom.

A mud volcano is a hole or hill formed in the ground with a crater, where mud masses and gases, often mixed with groundwater and oil, rise through a vent from the depths of our planet. Geologists have discovered about eight hundred formations of this type on our planet, half of which are located in the Caspian Sea region (three hundred of them are in the territory of East Azerbaijan).

Mud volcanoes are widespread in a rather limited space - in the region of the Alpine-Himalayan, Pacific and Central Asian mobile belts, forming primarily in oil-bearing regions - a mud hill usually arises independently, by itself, and in zones of active volcanic activity - in the form of their fumaroles can be found either on the slopes of fire-breathing mountains, or not far from them.

Volcanoes from oil-bearing areas

The way a mud hill forms in an area where oil occurs is somewhat different from how it appears as a satellite of a magmatic volcano. Oil or natural gas located in the bowels of the earth constantly release flammable gases that escape upward through cracks in the earth's crust.

If the cracks are located where underground water is located, then flammable gases push the liquid upward, where it mixes with the soil, forming a mud volcano.

Along with groundwater, oil often rises to the top in small quantities, providing clear evidence of the presence of a valuable deposit in the area. Such volcanoes can be either permanent or periodic (the latter option is more common), as well as active, extinct, buried, underwater, island and abundantly releasing oil.

How mud volcanoes erupt

The mud volcanoes that we have the opportunity to observe now appeared as a result of a huge number of eruptions, which first began to show their activity several million years ago (for example, geologists have absolutely established that in the Caucasus this process began about 35 million years ago) .

If the clay released during eruptions was of a dense consistency, a cone appeared at the site of the eruption; if it was liquid, a hole was formed.

Since mud volcano eruptions do not last long, geologists rarely have the opportunity to track this process from beginning to end (this especially applies to hills that are located far from populated areas). Therefore, they usually manage to arrive just in time for the end of mud volcanic activity - and they learn about how everything happened mainly from people who were lucky enough to be at the scene of events at that moment. The activity of a mud volcano is usually characterized by two stages.

Active (paroxysmal)

It is characterized by a powerful ejection of gases and mud, which includes various rock fragments, from the main eruptive center. This picture looks quite impressive. First, there is a hum, a roar, an explosion and the release of a huge amount of dirt, after which the carbohydrate gases spontaneously ignite, as a result of which a column of fire is formed about 250 meters high and small particles of ejected rocks completely melt.

Together with the fire, a huge number of rock fragments (breccia) fly up, which, having reached a height of 120 meters, begins to fall down and completely fills the crater. If the channel of a mud volcano remains free and the breccia has not been able to completely plug it, after some time active hills appear here.

Passive (griffon-salsa)

After the eruption ends, the volcano still remains active, as evidenced by the release of a small volume of gases, dirt and water with oil particles from the secondary eruptive centers.

The role of mud volcanoes in the life of modern man

It is not for nothing that scientists consider the mud hill a free exploration drilling site, since thanks to it they have the opportunity to study in detail the rock fragments, gases, and mineralized waters carried out of the ground - and thus obtain data not only on geochemical processes, but also on the natural resources of this terrain.

Due to the presence of chemical elements useful for the human body (boron, manganese, lithium, copper, etc.), the mud of such volcanoes is often used to treat various diseases. For example, one of the most popular volcanoes in Russia is the Tizdar mud volcano, located on the coast of the Azov Sea, in the Sinyaya Balka tract.

During an extremely strong eruption that occurred about a hundred years ago, the cone of this mountain collapsed, as a result of which a crater was formed, in the middle of which there was a mud lake with a diameter of about 25 m. The mud in this lake never runs out and has a constant recharge: from the bowels of the volcano to the earth's the surface yields about 2.5 cubic meters per day. m. of healing consistency, and in the center of the crater you can see constant splashes of mud, which is brought to the surface by the crater of the volcano.

There are suggestions that the depth of Tizdar is about 25 meters, but scientists can only judge this theoretically, since due to the fact that the mud in the crater is extremely dense, there is currently no way to get to the bottom of the pool (thanks to this, swimming in the mud You can absolutely fearlessly in the lake, because in order to drown in it, you need to try very hard).

The Tizdar mud volcano (like all other similar formations) has a healing effect not only due to the useful minerals and chemical elements contained in the mud, but also due to the temperature factor, when under the influence of heat blood vessels dilate, blood flow increases and metabolism accelerates, due to which reduces or even eliminates inflammatory and painful processes occurring in the human body.