Boiling Mud Pots: Origin and Hydrogeochemistry (Donnoe and North-Mutnovsky Fumarolic Fields, Mutnovsky Volcano; South Kamchatka, Russia)

Abstract

The boiling mud pots of some volcanoes are very interesting phenomena. Their color, their water-solids ratio (consistency), the physical - chemical conditions of their solutions, and their contents of major and trace elements can vary widely. These parameters usually vary greatly between mud pots, while transparent thermal springs are the same chemically at one thermal field. Such a phenomenon can be seen at the thermal spring group of the Karymskoe lake (Karpov et al., 2003), the South-East fumarolic field of the Ebeko volcano (Bortnikova et al., 2005), and the thermal field of the Uzon volcano. Since the parameters are variable within very limited areas, their variability is difficult to explain only by different sources of thermal waters. The Donnoe and North-Mutnovskoe fumarolic fields are examples of such phenomena. Mud pots located within small areas are different in size, color, solid-to-liquid ratio, and boiling activity. Study and explanation of such contrast between mud pots parameters can reveal the origin and structure of large magmatic fluid systems under active volcanoes, because we believe that mud pots are little analogues of large hydrothermal systems. In this work, we want to account for causes of formation of various mud pots at Donnoe and North-Mutnovskoe fumarolic fields, and to define possible sources of the elements in their solutions.