Geomorphological Characteristics of Ain Mud Volcano and Determination of Mineral Composition of its Water and Mud by Utilizing Physical and Chemical Analysis Methods

Ain mud volcano, lying 24 km off the Kahir village and in the coastal plain of Oman Sea, is one of the unique geomorphological phenomena in the of Sistan & Baluchestan Province. This “pool like” mud volcano, unlike most of the mud volcanoes being cones, is elliptical in shape having a main diameter of 52 m and the small diameter of 42 m. The activity of this mud-volcano takes place in such a way that on times, when the pool is filled with mud-water (a mixture of mud and water), the surplus mud -water exits through the southern edge of the volcano in the form of streaming mud which then reaches a farther point off the volcano. The outpouring of mud from this volcano is usually smooth but occasionally outpourings become severe with bursting extrusion of viscous mud in great quantity. The exuding gas of this mud volcano is methane. Since no exclusive study on this mud volcano has been carried out so far, hence to cope with the shortage of library sources, efforts would be made in this article to make maximal use of the field and laboratory investigation so that, in addition to the examination of geomorphic and morphometric phenomena, and similarly in connection with the identification of the composition and also the exuding water-mud from the mud volcano, necessary steps must be taken in order to identify and introduce, for the first time and through such means, some of the aspects of this mud volcano that have hither to remained unexplored. Therefore, three samples of water and mud from the mud volcanoes in the dates 82.11.16, 84.9.21 and 84.12.26 were prepared using different chemical and physical analysis such as XRD, BET, TGA, DSC, and FAAS to determine the mineral composition testing and analysis was carried out.