Mud Volcanoes
A mud volcano or mud dome is a landform created by the eruption of mud or slurries, water and gases. There are several geological processes that may cause the formation of mud volcanoes. Mud volcanoes are not true igneous volcanoes as they do not produce lava and are not necessarily driven by magmatic activity. The Earth continuously exudes a mud-like substance, which may sometimes be referred to as a "mud volcano". Mud volcanoes may range in size from merely 1 or 2 meters high and 1 or 2 meters wide, to 700 meters high and 10 kilometers wide.
Today I got the chance to experience some mud volcanoes nearby my hometown Kerch. As you can see on the map above, they are located quite close to the city center actually, 22 minutes is not too big of a distance to travel by car.
The roads in Kerch are okay let's put it that way, of course it doesn't apply to the outskirts of the town, however you will have to prepare to drive your car on a dirt road for quite a bit, so I'd suggest an SUV for this trip.
I was not quite sure what the best time to visit would be, perhaps they are more active at a different time of the year, however I was happy to witness one of them in action and it was pretty sweet. Unfortunately, I didn't think to feel it at the time, later on today, when I was editing the photos, I was like: "Hmmm, I wonder how warm it is.." But it was too late to experience it. Either way, I did it a little research and found out that the volcano mud is kind of cool, even on a hot summer day its temperature is about +19C.
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Walking around, being amazed by all these natural wonders and taking pictures I didn't notice how I stepped into the mud myself. Within just a second almost half of my body went deep into the mud, for a moment I got scared because I thought it would suck me in, but it didn't I was fine! I got out alive and well, phew!
The mud felt really thick and I think it was normal temperature too. It wasn't distinctively warm or cold.
I read that these local muds are rich in boron, iodine and soda which are good for the body and apparently healing. I am not sure that is true though. I was just really dirty.
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My feet looked like a reptile skin, which I thought was funny. I was happy to take that mud off though.
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This is the spot where I got out of the mud trap!
Even though I was covered in mud and could no longer wear my shoes, I didn't stop my adventure and proceeded to explore more. I was rewarded with a pretty sweet little mud volcano that was actually active.
Most volcanoes are quite calm, but I read that powerful eruptions occasionally happen, sometimes a mud fountain can erupt up to 15 meters high. Luckily it didn't do it in my face haha.
