DEVELOP AND GAIN

It is paradoxical, isn't it? From 1828 to 2005, about 1,600 scientific works were published in Azerbaijan and abroad on mud volcanoes that are abundant in our country. However, although these monuments of nature have been declared national parks by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, the issue of protecting the volcanoes and using their rich volcanic products has yet to be solved.

Researchers' interest in mud volcanoes is proved by the fact that apart from Azerbaijani scientists, scientific works have also been authored by about 450 scientists from the USA, Britain, Italy, Germany, Russia, Ukraine and other countries working in the sphere of geology, geophysics and geochemistry. The number of publications has exceeded 750 over the last 30 years. This fact is indicated in the bibliographical directory "The Mud Volcanoes of Azerbaijan" published by the Nafta Press publishing house of the Geology Institute of the National Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan in 2005. The publications focus on the results of the scientific research that was carried out, scientific conferences and symposiums on volcanoes, information regarding the use of volcanic products in medicine, construction and other spheres, problems of protecting them, their threat to people's lives, etc.

However, although there is so much scientific and practical information about Azerbaijan's mud volcanoes, this sphere is still underdeveloped, even though the correct and rational use of volcanic breccia (a product of volcanic eruption) in medicine, construction and other spheres, not to mention tourist trips to these monuments of nature, will yield considerable currency revenues to our country. Isn't it a non-oil industry?

But this is more annoying for people who have dedicated almost all their professional life to research into mud volcanoes and practical use of eruption products. After the collapse of the USSR, many years of work and everything that was created, even though nothing was destroyed, were "successfully" forgotten.

To clear all the mud…

Many scientists are saying today that there is a lot of work to do about "Azerbaijani volcanism". The prominent Azerbaijani geologist and deputy director of the geological exploration service of the Azerbaijani Ministry of Ecology, Vasif Xalilzada, who has spent most of his life working in the state planning committee of the ASSR, has called for action.

"I cannot keep silent when people's health is at stake, and the matter is not even about significant revenues from the tourist business. I think that this issue should be a priority in the state's social policy. We can talk a lot about mud volcanoes. This is a gift of nature. In Azerbaijan, especially on the Abseron peninsula and surrounding areas, there are more than 300 volcanoes, which make up more than 50 per cent of all mud volcanoes of the world. This is a wonderful base for setting up socially-oriented resorts. Apart from that, mud volcanoes are regarded first of all as a criterion for searching oil and gas deposits, because they are directly related to them," the scientist said.

According to Xalilzada, a number of prominent geologists of Azerbaijan have been engaged in research into Azerbaijan's mud volcanoes, their composition, biochemistry and connection to oil and gas deposits. The doctor of medicine, Farida Afandiyeva, has made a significant contribution to this issue. Since 1960, she has been studying the dry concentrations of volcanic knoll mud on the surface of volcanoes that were left unattended by doctors and held what the doctor called a lot of unknown information. For medical purposes, she studied 15 of the 300 mud volcanoes that contained a great amount of medicinal mud and were easy to access.

It turned out that although various health institutions made active use of volcanic mud in Crimea, Taman and Sakhalin, not to mention the Akhtal resort in Georgia, doctors in Azerbaijan, except for Afandiyeva, were not interested in medicinal mud reserves here.

"Beginning from the 1970s, the Geology Institute of the Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan, Farida Afandiyeva and me at the state planning committee of the ASSR started promoting medicinal volcanic mud. Many articles were published in local and Moscow medical journals, proving the advantage of our mud and proposing practical measures to expand the use of volcanic mud in Azerbaijan," Xalilzada said.

Research showed that our volcanic mud surpasses Georgian mud and even Naftalan medicinal oil, he said. In 1983, a volcanic mud solution was offered as a new medicine. Moreover, as a result of Afandiyeva's hard work, volcanic mud was used in the treatment of many diseases in 16 health institutions of Baku - boarding houses, polyclinics and hospitals, in the mid-1980s. It was also used in cosmetology.

As a consultant of the Scientific-Research Institute for Health Resorts and Physical Methods of Treatment (Under the Soviets, it was called the Kirov Scientific-Research Institute for Health Resorts and Physical Methods of Treatment), Afandiyeva continues her scientific research despite her old age, trying to improve methods of fangotherapy and expand their use. The scientist has carried out a tremendous amount of work.

"It is enough to look at the amount of literature created by a whole number of specialists, including Russians. It includes more than 100 works, including methodical manuals to use medicinal mud both in health institutions and at home. Afandiyeva has proposed a type of treatment like "dry fangotherapy" approved by the scientific council of the Azerbaijani Scientific Research Institute for Medical Rehabilitation in 1995. In 1984, this method was approved by the Central Scientific Research Institute of Health Resorts and Physiotherapy of the Soviet Ministry of Health which recommended the production of packs of dry powder of knoll mud for treatment outside resorts. The companies Geoxidmat and Peloid at the Geology Institute of the Azerbaijani Academy of Sciences have been engaged in this work," Xalilzada told us. The latter is still run by Afandiyeva's son Cingiz Qasqay. The successful activity of the company has won international recognition: the Turkish and Russian health ministries have issued certificates to sell Azerbaijani volcanic mud in their countries, although it is not easy to find dry mud in Afrodita packs in local pharmacies.

Unfortunately, this type of treatment is not being used in Azerbaijan now, Xalilzada said. The sale of mud in packs is a drop in the ocean compared to what can be done. "I am very surprised that despite the presence of practical material, the Scientific Research Institute of Health Resorts and Physical Methods of Treatment has almost forgotten about this treatment. Fangotherapy was successfully used in this medical institution in the past owing to Farida Afandiyeva's efforts. What is more, there are almost no people who would promote this business body and soul today. Many scientists, who compiled the unique "Atlas of Azerbaijan's Mud Volcanoes" in 1971, are very old today. There are no analogues of this atlas in the world. This work was run by prominent geologists like Academician Alid Yaqubov and Asraf Alizada. Just imagine, this book was published in Germany in 1971. Not everyone can do this. You need to have great authority and prepare a lot of material coupled with aerial pictures. No-one has done or can do anything like this today. And no-one needs this knowledge. That's too bad. Afandiyeva was happy that she managed to get out of volcanic mud substances that help treat skin cancer. She wants to contact Russian specialists in order to promote this work. We are not doing this here in Azerbaijan," Xalilzada said.

He also said that he has tested the medicinal qualities of knoll mud on himself several times. The result was tangible the next day - the strong pain in my shoulder disappeared the next day. This pain never came back in 20 years.

The Caspian, the sun and the sand...

Vasif Xalilzada showed the R+ correspondent the Ogonek magazine published in 2003. It contains photographs and an article about a mud volcano that is 150 metres from the Sea of Azov and belongs to a fish farm. "There is a Russian businessman who decided to make money on this business and provide services to people. He cleared everything around - there is a great number of people coming here in summer. They come from everywhere, even from abroad. But there is only one volcano there. You pay 40 roubles for spending 20 minutes there. For example, unlike the silt mud, in which the overall saline mineralization is more than 300 grams per litre, in knoll mud, the maximum mineralization is 30 grams per litre. It is so good that you can even bathe your baby in it. I don't understand why we can't do this. If you add here our Caspian Sea, solar radiation, hot quartz sand, traditional tandir bread, motal cheese and Ag Sani and Qara Sani grapes, it will be impossible to overestimate the medicinal effect of volcanic mud on people's health. This is a unique gift of God. And we have to use it. We have to ensure that these volcanoes serve the people," he said.

On 15 August this year, the Azerbaijani president issued a degree to set up a state natural reserve of mud volcanoes in Baku and on the Abseron peninsula. This proves that mud volcanoes are the country's national property and should be protected by the state.

Unfortunately, many mud volcanoes in our country are in a deplorable condition. Since they were not protected, they were plundered, their landscapes were damaged and surrounding areas were used for housing construction. Although volcanists of the Geology Institute of the Azerbaijani National Academy of Sciences have repeatedly warned that housing construction around volcanoes is dangerous for people because an active volcano may not just damage people's houses, but also destroy everything around itself. We can only hope that the president's degree will make it possible to preserve the mud volcanoes - monuments of nature that have not been totally destroyed yet.

But if it is a national park, it does not mean that access to the volcanoes should be banned, the scientist said. "Previously, I made a report on this subject in Naxcivan, saying that it is necessary to organize not only tourist, but also special professional tours. If you put all this on a normal basis with relevant services and conditions, you can make a lot of money on this business. We could have a great number of such routes, especially from Baku towards the south. Volcanoes form whole landscapes here - 400 metre giants like Otmanbozlaq, Great Kanizdag, Toragay, the littoral volcanoes of the Caspian - Bahar, Hamamdag and others. We have volcanoes situated in very picturesque places, for example, Damirci - 10 km north of Pirqulu, or near the Qobustan cultural-historical reserve where the Dasgil volcano is located," he said.

Apart from that, the scientist is sure that volcanic mud can be effectively used in agriculture. The thing is that the main structure of Abseron soil is sand, and when you water it, it is washed away. There are no particles of clay in Abseron soil. "Volcanic mud is not just particles of clay. These are particles rich in a whole number of components that are useful to vegetables. Knoll powder will change the structure of Abseron sand, and its humidity will increase significantly owing to volcanic mud particles. When you fertilize the soil today, you enrich it with nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, the sand is washed away and only 30 per cent of fertilizers remain. Seventy per cent of fertilizers is wasted and washed away into deeper layers. Clay would stop water from being wasted. The percentage of the use of water and other components would increase at least by 30 per cent. What is more, no matter how much it increases, it will still be useful," Xalilzada said.

Recently, the Mineralogy Institute and the Geology Institute investigated the possibility of extracting boron from the waste products of mud volcanoes. This mud contains a very high concentration of this element. But it turned out that there are waters that contain less boron than the mud itself, but it is much easier to extract boron from the same oil waters than from clay. Incidentally, the price of one ton of boron is 1,000 dollars on the world market. Azerbaijani volcanoes hold millions of tons of boron.

"I think the assets of the State Oil Fund could be used for the construction of socially-oriented resorts on the basis of the tremendous resources of unique medicinal mud. The state will get even more revenues from using volcanic clay which is good expanded clay raw material, as well as from using it in producing metal pellets and in other spheres," the scientist said.

Clear mud from mud

According to the head of the mud volcanoes department of the Geology Institute of the National Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan, the doctor of mineralogy, Adil Aliyev, tourist routes could be developed on the territory of mud volcanoes only after they are cleared of litter that has collected there for years and the traces of the barbaric exploitation of these volcanoes by bent wheeler-dealers and private construction companies are eliminated. Because of this, some of volcanic landscapes of rare beauty look miserable. Incidentally, foreign specialists of oil companies who visit some of our mud volcanoes pay special attention to that. For this reason, we need to create national parks for mud volcanoes as rare monuments of nature.

"In 1999, after the eruption of the Bozdag-Qobu volcano, there appeared a deep crack of 1,200 metres which reached housing estates. Sometimes, such cracks can stretch for two or even three kilometres, as was the case at the Kolani volcano in Samaxi District. In October 2000, this happened at the Kecaldag volcano situated on the south-eastern coast of the Ceyranbatan water reservoir. Work carried out on the slopes of this lost volcano awakened it - and there was a large eruption. At the foot of the volcano, a housing estate and incomplete buildings were buried under breccia. Luckily, there were no casualties. Moreover, a large ditch was dug near the crater of Qaradagaxtarma, the most active volcano in Azerbaijan in the village of Lokbatan. Work to destroy the volcano lasted two months until it erupted," the scientist said indignantly. We must take care of them, use them carefully and safeguard them for the future generations. They are very useful for people. Firstly, as a very deep well, a mud volcano provides extremely useful information about what is going on deep under the ground and helps us find fuel. Mud volcanoes are genetically linked to seismic phenomena - earthquakes. Finally, as a scientist, I want to point that the study of mud volcanoes allows us to solve many scientific and theoretical issues of geology, geochemistry and geophysics. For this reason, we need to create national parks for volcanoes," Aliyev said.

Meanwhile, the press service of the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources said that the ministry has set up a coordinating council of 15 scientists to protect the volcanoes.

"A whole number of measures are planned to protect natural monuments - volcanoes. This work involves all district departments and ecology committees in areas close to volcanoes. It must be noted that responsibility for their safety lies not only with us, but also with the local executive authorities. They have already started installing warning signs on the approaches to volcanoes, saying that these monuments of nature are protected by the state and that it is strictly prohibited to contaminate and destroy them or to carry out construction and other work around them. It is also planned to certify the volcanoes. In this regard, it is necessary to secure a practical solution to the issue of setting up areas of natural beauty for mud volcanoes. Otherwise, these monuments of nature will be destroyed in several years' time," the press service said.

It must be noted that R+ correspondents have visited the Qaradagaxtarma mud volcano near the village of Lokbatan. Although it is near an oil and gas extracting department, no signs have been installed on the approaches to the volcano. Is it paradoxical? We don't think so…