Mud volcano

Mud volcano in the Norris Geyser Basin, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming. The mud volcano is about 40 cm tall.

A mud volcano is a small volcano-shaped cone of mud and clay, usually less than 1-2 m tall. These small mud volcanoes are built by a mixture of hot water and fine sediment (mud and clay) that either pours gently from a vent in the ground like a fluid lava flow or is ejected into the air like a lava fountain by escaping volcanic gas and boiling water. The fine mud and clay typically originates from solid rock--volcanic gases and heat escaping from magma deep below turn groundwater into a hot acidic mixture that chemically changes the rock into mud- and clay-sized fragments.