Petroleum content and mud volcanism in the Po (Italy) and South Caspian (Azerbaijan) Basins: Differences and their possible origins

The Po Valley, Italy, and the South Caspian Basin, Azerbaijan, located within one Alpine-Himalayan tectonic belt are intermountain basins, which have a similar space-time history of formation and development in regional aspects. The known differences in development density, morphology and activity of mud volcanoes in the Po and the South Caspian basins are conditioned by the difference of sedimentation rate, thickness and facies composition of sediments, as well as by the total content of OM in two basins. The majority of biogenic and diagenetic gases in the Po Basin province is sourced and accumulated during Pliocene and Pleistocene reservoirs. The development density of the mud volcanoes in the South Caspian basin is much higher than in the Po valley. The mud volcanoes of the Po Valley also differ morphologically from mud volcanoes of South Caspian basin. the mud volcanoes gases in the South Caspian basin originated from the sedimentary cover, while there is an obvious component of magmatic origin in MV gases in the Po basin.