Azerbaijan

Lok-Batan Mud Cone

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  • Christoph
  • Clyde
  • CugelVance
  • Xiquinho Silva
The Lok-Batan Mud Cone is one of the largest and the most active among Azerbaijan’s mud volcanoes. Azerbaijan is the country with the most examples of this geothermal phenomenon of the eruption of mud, water and gases. Lok-Batan stands at 130m above sea level and is located on the Absheron peninsula at the shores of the Caspian Sea.

Site Info

Official Information
Full Name
"Lok-Batan" Mud Cone (ID: 1176)
Country
Azerbaijan
Status
On tentative list 1998 Site history
History of Lok-Batan Mud Cone
1998: Added to Tentative List
Added to tentative list
Criteria
Links
UNESCO
whc.unesco.org
All Links
UNESCO.org

Community Reviews

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First published: 09/09/23.

Clyde

Lok-Batan Mud Cone

Lok-Batan Mud Cone (On tentative list)

Lok-Batan Mud Cone by Clyde

I visited this tWHS on the way to the Gobustan Rock Art WHS. Even though there is no mobile signal around, and there is a police checkpoint just before reaching the site which is quite notorious for bribery scams, currently the site is free of charge, signposted and very easy to get to. So if you have a rental car, the most popular half-day or day trip from Baku including the Gobustan Rock Art WHS and the Lok-Batan mud cone, is not necessary and you'll be able to spend more time at the sites proper plus make sure you're taken to the most active parts of the mud cone.

You'll see that most guides do their best to light a flame on the babbling mud cones. Make sure not to step on the fresh mud and keep a safe distance from the most active cones (the amount of fresh mud oozing out of them should be a clear indicator!). The mud cone or "volcano" erupted in 1977 and again in 2001, producing large flames many meters high in the latter eruption. I had already seen other smaller examples of mud cones in Turkmenistan, and although Azerbaijan claims to have around half of the world's mud volcanoes, their association with oil and gas fields, together with the rather dubious boardwalks and "mud spa centres" currently being built and developed, while trying to artificially control nature, I think don't bode well for any possible future inscription.

It was interesting to …

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