Mud volcanoes of Andamans

S Balakrishnan *

The Andaman Islands have many natural wonders. One of them is the mud volcanoes, tiny-puny volcanoes. But the Islands do posses real size volcanoes also, the dormant Narcondum Island volcano and the active Barren Island volcano, the only active volcano in South Asia. But let us visit the unique mud volcanoes of Andamans, the only such known in India. This rare phenomenon is found only in select places around the globe.

There are two mud volcano sites in Andamans - in Baratang Island (that lies in between South & Middle Andaman Islands) and near Diglipur in North Andaman Island. It seems the one in Baratang is popular; maybe because it is closer to Port Blair (100 kms) and easily accessible (a day’s trip when one can also visit the Limestone Caves nearby) than the one in Diglipur (300 kms). In fact, I came to know of the Diglipur mud volcano only now while stealing material from the internet for the Baratang mud volcano. In local parlance the mud volcano is known as jalki.

Mud volcanoes are created by natural gas that emit out of decaying organic matter lying deep underground; they are vents in the earth emitting gas and mud along. The mud thus deposited over ground hardens and takes the shape of a mini volcano as more and more mud oozes out and deposits. A mud crater is formed at the top from where mud flows like a miniature river, smooth, silky, creamy and chocolaty that I felt like licking it. Beware! I was under the watchful eyes of my wife.

But I never heard of these bubbling wonders during my stint in the Islands from 1978 to 1980. I visited this wonder and the nearby Limestone Cave only during my revisit in 2009. Nothing to regret; because the Baratang mud volcano drew attention only in 2003 (18th Feb.) by erupting & spewing mud in a major way. Of course there was a minor fissure eruption at the same site before 1983 and an eruption in March 1983, of larger magnitude than the 2003 eruption. These types of fissures/cracks are common in Baratang through which mud and gas constantly seep out.

The jalki site covers roughly 1,200 sq m with a formation of a sub-circular mound 30 m in diameter and 2 m in height at the center. While the jalkis continue to erupt sporadically, the eruption in 2005 could be the consequence of the devastating earthquake and tsunami of 2004.

After reaching Baratang, we first visited the amazing Limestone Cave at Naya Dera village by hiring a speedboat. Then back to Baratang Island’s Nilambur Jetty from where we hired a car (Rs.250/-) to visit the second wonder, the mud volcano. Motorable path is up to a certain point called Jarawa Creek. Then we climbed up through the trail for 15-20 minutes to wonder at the 3 or 4 mounds – small and big - bubbling and oozing with mud & gas.

A drizzle on the way added to our fun. This is not unexpected of in Andamans, especially in June-July. We noticed a gas entrapment funnel set up by Atomic Energy of India to monitor pre-seismic geochemical signals. The site is fenced to prohibit entry into danger zone. However, who could prevent curious onlookers from throwing in pebbles at the oozing mud crater?

Well, to be frank, but for my watchful wife the child in me would have aimed a few pebbles. It was odd to see lot of palm trees all around the fenced site. To brag to those back in the mainland that we had actually seen an active mud volcano we video recorded the bubbling sound and oozing mud. Spending some half an hour, we climbed down all the way to the rest house near the jetty as there was enough time.

After refreshing, we had a decent lunch for Rs.50 + Rs.10 for curd. Then we boarded the Kadamtala-Port Blair bus (fare Rs.55/passenger) that was taken on a Roll-on/Roll-off (RO-RO) ferry (extra Rs.4 for each) to cross the sea creek and reach South Andaman; then it was all a road journey to Port Blair. This RO-RO service is in the Islands since the 1970s itself; nothing novel. But there was much hype when NaMo inaugurated such a RO-RO service in his home State of Gujarat, a year back.

The other mud volcano site is located near Hathilevel, at a distance of 20 kms from Diglipur in North Andaman Island; a chain of Mud volcanoes could be witnessed in the green jungle of Shyamnagar. Here also one has to trek for 15 minutes in the semi-evergreen forests to reach the jalki. At the initial point, bigger and dormant mud volcano can be sighted. On proceeding further for a few minutes fresh emerging mud volcanoes can be seen.

The mud volcanoes are tiny, yes, but unique and found only in Andamans in the whole of India. So don’t expect too much or too big and get disappointed and blame me. As the next adventure you can dream along with me of visiting Barren Island’s real volcano as it spews lava. Wow! Ok, ok, my wife is watching, I can’t even day dream.