Stunning social media videos erupted from the northern coast of Colombia on Feb. 25, when a mud volcano exploded, shooting flames high into the sky and prompting evacuations, local officials reported.
Mud volcanoes are "unusual, but fascinating," Michael Manga, a professor of Earth and planetary science at the University of California, Berkeley, told USA TODAY.
The Colombian fountain of mud, flames and smoke erupted on Feb. 25 at 6:20 p.m. local time, the community of San Juan de Urabá posted on its official Facebook page. The community is in the northwest corner of Colombia, near the Caribbean coast, about 150 miles southwest of Cartagena and 150 miles north of Medellin.
Social media videos showed people running into the streets as bright orange flames and smoke spewed into the sky.
Although not a common occurrence, many hundreds of mud volcanoes occur on land, including in the United States, said Manga, who studies them. Many more are found under the sea. They are also sometimes called geothermal springs.
