Azernews.Az

By Amina Nazarli

Keyreki volcano erupted in Absheron Peninsula on October 12. The mud accompanied by a strong explosion was ejected from the crater of the volcano at a distance of 200 meters.

The eruption sparked public concerns about an earthquake in the region.

However, Head of the Institute of Geology of mud volcanoes of the Azerbaijani National Academy of Sciences (ANAS), Doctor of Geological and Mineralogical Sciences, Professor Adil Aliyev noted that the eruption is not associated with the earthquake.

The main reason behind the trend is that the volcano stores the energy.

"Volcanoes store the energy and then sometimes erupt to release it. The last eruption of this volcano was in 2002. As the volcano stored its energy for 12 years it was the time for its eruption," Aliyev said. "The volcano will not reactivate further, so there is no threat for now."

He cited that the eruption was expected, but in such cases it is too difficult to have an accurate date.

The professor added that eruption of other volcanoes is also expected soon.

Azerbaijan is in the first place in the world for the amount of mud volcanoes. There are about 350 of 800 volcanoes of the world in Azerbaijan. Every year a total of 3-5 volcanoes erupt in Azerbaijan.

Mud volcanoes of Azerbaijan took the 5th place in an international competition held by a Swiss non-commercial organization called "Seven wonders of nature".

Also, the greatest mud volcano in the territory of Azerbaijan was added into the Guinness World Records on September 5, 2004.