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| Sunday, 11 September 2005 |
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Junior Observer |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Mud pots and volcanoes
The mud could be viscous (thick and gluey), often bubbling and slurry (thin). As the boiling mud is often squirted over the brim of the mud pot, a sort of mini-volcano or "mud volcano" starts to build up, sometimes reaching heights of three to five feet. The mud is generally of white to greyish colour, but is sometimes stained with reddish or pink spots from iron compounds. When the slurry (muddy liquid mixture) is particularly colourful, it is called a "paint pot". The term mud volcano or mud dome is used to refer to formations created by geologically excreted liquids and gases, although there are several different processes which may cause such activity. Temperatures are much cooler than igneous(rocks formed by volcanic action) processes. The largest structures are 10 km in diameter and reach 700 metres in height. About 86 per cent of released gases are methane, with much less carbon dioxide and nitrogen emitted. Ejected materials often are a slurry of fine solids suspended in liquids which may include water (frequently acidic or salty) and hydrocarbon fluids. Approximately 1,100 mud volcanoes have been identified on land and in shallow water. It has been estimated that well over 10,000 mud volcanoes may exist on continental slopes and abyssal plains. A mud volcano may be the result of a pierced structure created by a pressurised mud diapir (a fold in which the overlying rock has been pierced by material from beneath) which breaches the Earth's surface or ocean bottom. Temperatures may be as low as the freezing point of ejected materials, particularly when venting is associated with the creation of hydrocarbon clathrate hydrate deposits. Mud volcanoes are often associated with petroleum deposits, tectonic subduction zones and orogenic belts (earth's crust which has been subjected to mountain building). Mud volcanoes are generally few in Europe, but dozens can be found on the Kerch Peninsula of southeastern Ukraine. Many mud volcanoes exist on the shores of the Black Sea and Caspian Sea. Tectonic forces and large sedimentary deposits around the latter have created several fields of mud volcanoes, many of them emitting methane and other hydrocarbons. Iran and Pakistan also possess mud volcanoes in the Makran range of mountains in the south of the two countries. China has a number of mud volcanoes in the Xinjiang province. Source: Internet |
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A mud pot is a hot spring or fumarole formed in high-temperature
geothermal areas where water is in short supply. A mud pot is technically
known as solfatare. The little water that is available rises to the
surface at a spot where the soil is rich in volcanic ash, clay and other
fine particles. The thickness of the mud usually changes along with
seasonal changes in the water table. 
