Azerbaijan is in the first place in the world for the amount of mud volcanoes. Mud volcanoes broadly spread in Azerbaijan. There are about 350 of 800 volcanoes of the world in Azerbaijani Republic. Local people call them “yanardagh” (burning mountain), “pilpila” (terrace), “gaynacha” (boiling water) and “bozdag” (grey mountain) alongside its geographical name mud volcanoes. Underground and submarine mud volcanoes also famed in Azerbaijan. There are more than 140 submarine volcanoes in the Caspian Sea. Eight islands in the Baku Archipelago are mud volcanoes by origination. The other kind of mud volcanoes is found out in wells. Their activity can be observed among strata of various ages. According to the information, mud volcanoes initially began their activity in the territory of Azerbaijan 25 million years ago. About 200 eruptions occurred in 50 volcanoes in the territory of Azerbaijani Republic since 1810. Eruption of mud volcanoes is accompanied by strong explosions and underground rumble. Gasses come out from the deepest layers of the earth and immediately ignite. A height of a flame over volcano reaches 1000 meters (Garasu volcano). Toragay volcano erupted 6 times from 1841 to 1950. Mud volcanoes associated with oilfields by origination. Rich oil and gas fields were found out in the territories of mud volcanoes (Lokbatan, Garadgh, Neft Dashlari, Mishovdagh and others). In addition, lava, mud and liquid erupted by mud volcanoes are used as raw materials in chemical and construction industries and also in pharmacology. Geologists of NASA studying Mars planet, concluded that mud volcanoes of Azerbaijan are similar to uplands of the planet for their structure. On September 5, 2004 the greatest mud volcano in the territory of Azerbaijan was added into the Guinness World Records.
