Description: From Orr and others, 2024: "New activity was also discovered at Shrub mud volcano’s summit when visited in 2022, made apparent by both a fresh tree-kill area upslope from (east of) the summit pit and new mud deposits that coated the pit’s east wall. The source of this mud was a string of recently opened springs that actively discharged hot, muddy water. This line of springs started at the north wall of the pit, extended southeastward and uphill to just below the summit, then stretched back down to the south wall of the pit. The most active of these new springs was a small, sputtering geyser ~20 centimeters (cm) [7.87 inches] high with a temperature of ~54 degrees Celsius (ºC) [~130 degrees Fahrenheit]. This temperature is the highest measured at Shrub mud volcano since 2000, before the summit pond formed. A few of the new springs were inactive, such as those on the barren slope above the south wall of the pit.
"The muddy water that filled the summit pit during previous field visits had been mostly replaced with more solid mud by the time of the 2021 field visit, probably owing to an influx of mud from the new springs on the slope above. Small, bubbling springs were distributed across this mud floor, but no dominant upwelling area existed in the remaining pond. This differs from previous visits, when workers observed a main upwelling area at the north end of the pond-in 2021, that area was covered in mud crossed by rivulets of warm water fed from upslope. The outflow stream discharge was also estimated to have increased by 3-4 times since the field visit in 2019."