Taiwan Today

A study of mud volcano activity, conducted by National Taiwan Ocean University at the Wushanting Volcano Nature Reserve in Yancao Township over four months ago, discovered that the resistivity of the underground hydrology exhibited an irregular pattern. Before long, a mud spout emerged in the ground, exhilarating researchers. Yancao Township in Kaohsiung County spans a fault line with an abundant amount of natural gas and water stored under ground. The soil composition is quite soft in the area, largely comprised of mudstone. When the natural gas spews, it mixes together with the underground water and mud, creating a thick flow of mud that will amass around the cone, forming a classic mud cone. Located near Jinshan Village is the Wushanting Volcano Nature Reserve, situated at an altitude of 175 meters above sea level. The entire area covers about 4.89 hectares, with the mud field being about 150 meters wide and 200 meters long. It is known as the smallest nature reserve in Taiwan, albeit the largest and best preserved mud volcano landscape. The natural reserve has two mud cones, located about 15 meters apart from each other. At irregular times, mud wells out from both of these cones with a unique gushing sound, similar to that of a large volcano, but on a much smaller scale. The largest mud volcano in the nature reserve is 3.5 meters high with a 50-degree slope. It is a classic mud volcano cone. Every several seconds it will erupt and spew thick mud that flows down from the cone, creating a tongue-like mud stream that is able to cover a diameter of some 70 meters.