Mud Volcanoes

or salses, differently shaped geological formations that constantly or periodically throw out mud and gases, often with water and petroleum, onto the earth’s surface. They are found primarily in petroleum-bearing and volcanic regions and also in the deltas of rivers that carry in a great deal of plant material and water that sometimes contains an oil film. They are found in the USSR (the eastern shores of the Caspian Sea, the Apsheron, Taman’, and Kerch’ peninsulas, and eastern Georgia) and abroad (in Italy, Iceland, New Zealand, and Central America).