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Port Blair: The samples collected from India's only active mud volcano at Baratang in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands belong to the Oligocene age, which was around 23 million years ago, a Geological Survey of India (GSI) official said.

The lithoclasts ejected from the crater were found to be composed of sandstone and shale of the Mithakari Group, belonging to this geological period, he said.

The Oligocene is a geological epoch that lasted from around 33.9 to 23 million years ago, marked by the expansion of grasslands, global cooling, and the evolution of several modern mammal species, including the first elephants, cats, and dogs.

"We visited the site on October 8-9 to assess the mud eruption reported on October 2. We had collected the mud sample and found that it belonged to th

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