The Sidoarjo mud flow is the result of an erupting mud volcano in the subdistrict of Porong, Sidoarjo in East Java, Indonesia that has been in eruption since May 2006. It is the biggest mud volcano in the world; responsibility for the disaster was assigned to the blowout of a natural gas well drilled by PT Lapindo Brantas, although company officials contend it was caused by a very distant earthquake that occurred in a different province.
Mudflow, photo taken on July 21, 2006
Destruction caused by the Sidoarjo mud flow, January 2014
Photo taken of the area of Sidoarjo destroyed by the mud.
School destroyed by mud flow.
A mud volcano or mud dome is a landform created by the eruption of mud or slurries, water and gases. Several geological processes 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. 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. Smaller mud exudations are sometimes referred to as mud-pots.
Hydrate-bearing sediments, which often are associated with mud volcano activity. Source: USGS, 1996.
On top of Gekpatlawuk mud volcano, Western Turkmenistan
Two mud volcanoes on the Taman Peninsula near Taman Stanitsa, Russia
Akpatlawuk mud volcano, western Turkmenistan
