The Salse di Nirano in Fiorano Modenese (Modena) are emissions of cold mud produced by rising water, originally from the sea, adulterated with hydrocarbons, mostly gasses (methane) and a smaller quantity of liquids (petroleum), which filters through layers of faults and fractures in the subsoil as it moves to the surface, shifting the clay of the soil and producing the classic conic and spring-like shapes.
The phenomenon was known in antiquity as various archaeological discoveries in the area prove and was studied by famous scientists in the past, producing some very imaginative observations on the so-called “mud volcanoes”. The name “Salsa” derives from the high salt content of the mud, a reminder of that sea that occupied the present-day Po Valley plain up until a million years ago. The salt makes the land around the mud volcanoes particularly inhospitable and arid, so the only plants that survive there are grasses such as Puccinellia fasciculata, widespread along the coast. The Salse are considered “pseudo-volcanoes” phenomena, as they have many similar characteristics but their origins are completely different, since they are not connected to magma and are completely cold.
The Nature Reserve, created in 1982, safeguards the vast, peculiar Salse complex in the region of Emilia-Romagna. It covers about 200 hectares in the municipality of Fiorano Modenese, between the Fossa and Chianca streams, on the low foothills of the Modenese Appenines. The Salse di Nirano Nature Reserve is part of the Central Emilia Parks Agency and a key stop on the via dei Vulcani di Fango/Mud Volcano Route, a thrilling 60+km path that crosses 6 municipalities, including 50 points of interest including historical residences, archaeological sites and protected landscapes.
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