Heat flow and mud volcanoes in the Caspian sea region

Abstract

A number of researchers connect the manifestation of mud volcanism and diapirs with areal variability of heat flow. Most mud volcanoes in the region are known in the Republic of Azerbaijan, south-western Turkmenistan, partly – in Georgia, on the Kerch the Crimean peninsula and in waters of the Caspian, Black and Azov seas, there are such volcanoes in Iran, but they are less common. A number of geological factors stipulate development of mud volcanism in the South Caspian Sea. A thickness of sediments reaches 30 km; the upper 10 km being composed of the Pliocene-Quaternary dominantly clayey lithologies accumulated at extremely high sedimentation rates (up to 1300 m/m.y.). The Lower-Kura Depression is known by its low heat flow among the alpine region. However, in adjacent crustal blocks the abnormal heat flow approximately twice exceeds the medium value and rises to 100 mW/m 2 and slightly more within the adjoining land