There is a lot of things in Azerbaijan that can be safely classified as "very best". For example, our country is home to a third of the world's mud volcanoes. And this is an amazing fact.
The mud volcanoes of Azerbaijan are famous. But until recently, only scientists knew about them, and in recent years they have become a tourist attraction. Today the "volcano field" in Gobustan has become a must-see for foreigners. This is not just exotic, it is contact with something unusual, unknown, excitingly dangerous and at the same time beautiful.
Many will be surprised - how can a mud volcano be called "beautiful"? But those who have visited this amazing place will agree with us. An extraordinary sight opens up to the guest, almost alien. A huge space, ending with an azure strip of the sea, is literally filled with cones of unusual heights that are not in an earthly way. At first, it is breathtaking to think that these are not just hills, but craters of volcanoes that are active in most of them. They are small and seemingly harmless, but come closer and you will feel all the power of the earth boiling in their vents.
Gobustan volcanoes do not sleep. They live and breathe. Some continue to erupt constantly, pouring slow streams of mud into the plain, stony, cracking and forming an almost Martian landscape.
Several years ago, for the first time in the history of volcanology, Azerbaijani scientists prepared an atlas of mud volcanoes on our planet. During the preparation of this atlas, new information was obtained about the world's mud volcanoes. As the head of the mud volcanism department of the Institute of Geology of the National Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan (ANAS), Doctor of Geological and Mineralogical Sciences, Professor Adil Aliyev told reporters then, it was previously believed that there are 700-800 mud volcanoes in the world, and later this figure increased to 900, and more 300 of them are in Azerbaijan. During the preparation of the atlas, according to the results of research, it turned out that at present there are more than two thousand mud volcanoes in the world.
Previously, it was believed that there are 170 mud volcanoes in the south of the Caspian, but as a result of research during the preparation of the atlas, it was found that there are 230 underwater and 10 island ones. Today 344 mud volcanoes are located in Azerbaijan, and 133 of them are located in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea.
Scientists reassure that 60 percent of mud volcanoes in Azerbaijan do not erupt, but they constantly bring gas, water and mud to the surface. However, in September, Otman-Bozdag rebelled, throwing mud at a height of up to 200 meters during the eruption, and next year, as experts predict, six more eruptions should be expected.
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There is a possibility of an eruption of the Bozdag Gobu volcano on the Absheron peninsula, the Bahar volcano in the village of Alyat, the Shekihan, Nardaranakhtarma, Ayazakhtarma, Shikhzerli volcanoes in Gobustan. In addition, the volcanoes Bozdag and Bahar are expected to erupt violently. The year 2017 was particularly memorable, when Ortman-Bozdag, Lokbatan, Keiryaki, Shamakhi and Gobustan region, Bozaakhtarma, Shikhzarli, Garidzha and Shekihan, located in Absheron, erupted in just six months.
In 2018, the "baton" was continued by Gushcha - in the Shamakhi region, Toragay twice - in South Gobustan, Akhtarma-Pashaly volcano - in Hajibul, Ortmanbozdag volcano - in Garadagh.
Here are some interesting statistics. But in general it is not dangerous, since most of the volcanoes included in the “risk group” are located far from settlements.
It is interesting that several years ago the Institute of Geology proposed to create a tourist route along 25 mud volcanoes. Here our country has something to show and tell.
And we should return to the “field of volcanoes” in Gobustan and pay attention to the endless flow of tourists arriving to see the alien landscapes. The cars of the residents of the village, delivering foreigners here, follow one after another. Tourists climb the sticky mud along the slopes of the hills, look with amazement at the gurgling vents, photograph cracks from which hot mud oozes. You should be careful here not to slip, not to lose your shoes, which can stick to the dirt, and not to burn yourself. Gurgling volcanoes can also throw mud at tourists. Some who got too close to get a good shot on the phone were shocked from head to toe.
Although volcanic mud, according to doctors, is useful, but still …
We advise everyone to visit this amazing place, to get in touch with something unknown. And most importantly, to see how diverse and unusual our Azerbaijan is.
Lala Mamedova