The Akpatlavuk mud volcano — one of the largest in the world — has begun to erupt in the south-west of Turkmenistan, the MIR 24 TV channel reported on Friday.

During an eruption, a sound resembling a deep sigh is heard from the crater of a 60-meter-high hill. The so—called semi-liquid mud breccia erupts outwards - a mixture of clay, oil, water and fragments of sedimentary rocks.

The cause of the eruption could be the accumulation of gases and a more active flow of groundwater into the vent of the volcano, ecologist Meretdurdy Kichimov thinks. He also notes that the scale of the eruption and the activity of the volcano are safe today.

The crater lake of the volcano with a diameter of 150 meters is filled with boiling magma, which remains cold. It is used for medicinal purposes in health resorts of Turkmenistan.

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