Complex of Geophysical Methods During the Survey of the Underwater Diapir Volcano of the Taman Peninsula

Mud volcanoes could be found almost everywhere on the areas with sediments thickness about the first kilometres. Their forms are conical structures with a truncated vertex. The vertex has crater, outer slopes could be strongly indented by radially diverging ravines. Cone's form changes depending on the consistence of the erupting mud: if it is liquefied the cone is low with smooth slops, if consistence is viscous it leads to high cone formation with steep slopes. The mud volcanoes eruptions are accompanied by fire arising from spontaneous combustion of gases exhaled from the vents. The main factors causing the possibility of occurring of mud volcanism: existence of tectonically dislocated intensely fractured clay rocks which are able to deliqate, confined groundwater and underground gas accumulation. The main principle of mud volcanism lies in the exhalation of combustible gases coming to the surface along weakened zones, blending gas flow with clayey breccia, which is liquefied by confined groundwater and mud mixture effusion to the surface (Rakhmanov, 1987; Kholodov, 2012, Mironuk, 2014).