
A mud volcano has actually roared to life in front of a temple in Taiwan, with enchanting videos catching the minutes mud shot out of the ground below a crown of fire.
The Wandan mud volcano, situated in the Wandan Township of southern Taiwan, spat bubbling mud out of 4 different vents on Thursday (June 26) as ejected product reached a height of 6.6 feet (2 meters), Formosa Television (FTV) News reported.
Video from the approximately 10-hour-long eruption reveals flames sparking above the bubbling mud. While mud volcanoes can fire up naturally, the Wandan flames were intentionally set by regional individuals to burn off ejected methane, a greenhouse gas that adds to environment modification, according to Reddit posts by Mark Tingayan accessory associate teacher of geology and geophysics at the University of Adelaide in Australia.
“Local folks ignite these vents by throwing burning rags into them,” Tingay composed in action to one Reddit user inquiring about the flames. “They do it mostly to flare off the gases, but partly because it looks awesome!”
Related: Undersea robotic in Siberia’s Lake Baikal exposes covert mud volcanoes– and an active fault
Mud volcanoes typically do not have anything to do with routine volcanoeswhich eject molten rock and hot gases. Some mud volcanoes are connected to hot geothermal activity, like those in Yellowstone National ParkWandan’s mud volcano is the more typical type of this geological function.
“These mud volcanoes in Taiwan are driven by high fluid pressures that can form deep underground, rather than by magmatic influence,” Tingay composed in another Reddit remark.
Get the world’s most remarkable discoveries provided directly to your inbox.
The Wandan mud volcano in southern Taiwan appeared once again today.The eruption lasted from ~ 5am to ~ 3:40 pm. This is its 10th eruption in the last 3 years, most just recently the 6th July 2024. Video thanks to my good friend 張寶惠, the mud volcano temple caretaker.Best with noise on! pic.twitter.com/KBb1i206xDJune 26, 2025
Tingay research studies mud volcanoes and frequently shares info about eruptions on social networks. In his most current posts, he explained the Wandan occasion together with a video taken by 張寶惠, the mud volcano temple’s caretaker. 張寶惠 likewise shared videos on Facebookrevealing the mud volcano strongly emerging from various angles.
The most recent eruption started at around 5 a.m. regional time and continued till around 3.40 p.m. This is the 10th time the Wandan mud volcano has actually emerged within the last 3 years, according to Tingay’s posts.
There are mud volcanoes all over the world. The one visualized here remains in Kamchatka, Russia. (Image credit: Anzhela Kolentsionok through Getty Images)
Wandan’s mud volcano isn’t in a single repaired place, however can emerge over a 0.6-mile-wide (1 kilometer) location, according to Tingay. In previous years, the volcano has actually appeared beneath the temple, with mud shooting up the outdoors wall and streaming insidecovering the flooring.
Mud volcanoes differ in shapes and sizeand in many cases, type enormous cone-like structures really comparable in look to routine volcanoes. They can naturally produce flames when appearing rocks strike versus each other, developing a trigger that sparks ejected combustible gases. Scientists think this is what produced a towering inferno above a mud volcano in the Caspian Sea in 2021, Live Science formerly reported.
Patrick Pester is the trending news author at Live Science. His work has actually appeared on other science sites, such as BBC Science Focus and Scientific American. Patrick re-trained as a reporter after investing his early profession operating in zoos and wildlife preservation. He was granted the Master’s Excellence Scholarship to study at Cardiff University where he finished a master’s degree in worldwide journalism. He likewise has a 2nd master’s degree in biodiversity, advancement and preservation in action from Middlesex University London. When he isn’t composing news, Patrick examines the sale of human remains.
Learn more
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.