Understanding the deep underground structureof the Mount Karabetov mud volcano

The success of recently developed geological and geophysical methods and technologies for monitoring of mud volcanoes in the Kerch-Taman region is eventually based on the fundamental scientific results accumulated at the turn of the century under the overall leadership of the Academician E.F. Shnyukov. The results of geological and geophysical studies of the Mount Karabetov mud volcano (Taman Peninsula) featuring the passive seismoacoustic sounding method are presented. New data on the spatial configuration of subvertical fluid-saturated structures associated with the volcano's feeding system were obtained. Subsequent common interpretation of the geophysical data and the results of the structural-geomorphologic observations allowed one to formulate a consistent hypothesis on the possible deep mechanism of mud volcanic activity responsible for the mostly paroxysmal nature of eruptions of the Mount Karabetov.