Western Black Sea basin mud volcano province

Nine mud volcanoes have been discovered south of the Crimea Peninsula. Besides, seven buried mud volcanoes were discovered recently on the basis of seismic data in this area. Mud volcano breccia is represented mainly by Maikopian shales. Mud volcano area is characterized by a great thickness of Maikopian shales, which is 5 km thick. The paper gives a detailed description of the mud volcano area and a history of its discovery. An increased content of hydrocarbons was found within the ea of mud volcanoes.