So a massive explosion happened in the Caspian Sea, in an area where Azerbaijan has an extensive lineup of offshore oil rigs and gas fields. The blast is akin to a nuclear bomb going off. Almost seemed like the sea itself was on fire. Videos of the blast flooded social media and many believe that the cause was actually a mud volcano that exploded. But does a mud volcano explosion send a massive column of fire piercing through the sky?
According to Azerbaijan oil company, Socar, all preliminary investigations point to a mud volcano explosion as the area where the explosion happened is known for having several mud volcanoes. Thankfully, Socar said that none of their platforms were damaged or caught in the explosion. You can take a look at one of the videos in the post below.
The explosion almost looks like a fire dragon exhale flame upwards to the sky but we all know dragons aren’t real, right? According to Socar spokesman Ibrahim Ahmadov, the blast took place about 10km or six miles from the Umid gas field that is around 45 miles or 75km off the coast of Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan. Experts believe that a mud volcano was behind the massive explosion.
Azerbaijan is known as the “Land of Fire” partially because of all the subterranean oil and natural gas reserves the country has. But the name was also given because of the hundreds of mud volcanoes that are present. According to Mark Tingay, from the University of Adelaide, Australia, a quarter of these hundred mud volcanoes are known to erupt violently.
Tingay also explained that the explosion could very well be a mud volcano as the area where it happened, is on top of a known mud volcano called Makarov Bank. Makarov Bank exploded similarly back in 1958 and released a huge column of fire around 500 to 600 meters high and 150 meters wide. Socar did initially report that the explosion was from a mud volcano but many reports after that are still doubting if that really was the case.
Some say the explosion might have been caused by an old rig or platform blowing up. Seems July is starting with oceans and seas catching fire as the Gulf of Mexico recently started burning as well when an underwater pipeline burst. The burst resulted in flames emerging out of the water.
