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Methane emission from mud volcanoes in eastern Azerbaijan

¹ Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Section of Roma 2, via Vigna Murata 605, Rome, Italy
² Geology Institute of Azerbaijan, National Academy of Sciences, H. Cavid pr. 29A, Baku, 370143, Azerbaijan
³ Babes-Bolyai University, Department of Geology, M. Kogalniceanu Strasse 1, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
⁴ BP America, Exploration and Production Technology, Houston, Texas 77079, USA

Methane (CH₄) flux to the atmosphere was measured from gas vents and, for the first time, from soil microseepage at four quiescent mud volcanoes and one "everlasting fire" in eastern Azerbaijan. Mud volcanoes show different activity of venting craters, gryphons, and bubbling pools, with CH₄ fluxes ranging from less than one to hundreds of tons per year. Microseepage CH₄ flux is generally on the order of hundreds of milligrams per square meter per day, even far away from the active centers. The CH₄ flux near the everlasting fires (on the order of 10⁵ mg·m^–2·d^–1) represents the highest natural CH₄ emission from soil ever measured. The specific CH₄ flux to the atmosphere, between 10² and 10³ t·km^–2·yr^–1, was similar to specific flux from other mud volcanoes in Europe. At least 1400 tons of CH₄ per year are released from the investigated areas. It is conservatively estimated that all onshore mud volcanoes of Azerbaijan, during quiescent activity, may still emit 0.3–0.9 x 10⁶ t of CH₄ per year into the atmosphere. The new data fill a significant gap in the worldwide data set and confirm the importance of geologic sources of greenhouse CH₄, although they are not yet considered in the climate-study budgets of atmospheric CH₄ sources and sinks.

Key Words: mud volcanoes • microseepage • methane • gas flux • Azerbaijan

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