Baratang Island:
India’s only mud volcano at Baratang in Andaman and Nicobar Islands has again erupted.
- It is located in the North and Middle Andaman district, and it is nearly 150 km away from Port Blair.
- It is a very popular tourist spot because it is India’s only mud volcano.
- It was erupted recently in 2005 owing to the oceanic seismic shifts.
- The mud volcanoes in Baratang Islands are the only known volcanoes in the Indian sub-continent.
- It is also home to the Jarawa tribe, one of the indigenous tribes of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
- Mud volcanoes, also called ‘Mud Domes,’ are formed by the eruption of mud slurries, water, and gases involving a series of geological processes.
- Unlike actual ingenious volcanoes, mud volcanoes don’t throw out lava when they erupt.
- It is a geological formation where a mixture of mud, water, and gases (mainly methane, sometimes carbon dioxide or nitrogen) erupts to the surface, creating cone-like structures that resemble true volcanoes without molten lava.
- The sizes of mud volcanoes lie between one and two meters to 700 meters high and between one and two meters to 10 kilometers wide.
- Mud volcanoes also exist on the floor of the sea and can form islands and banks that alter the topography and shape of the coastline.
