Lake Nyos disaster

Last updated

Lake Nyos disaster
Tml15-16 Nc.jpg
Lake Nyos as it appeared eight days after the eruption
Cameroon physical map.svg
Cross.svg
Lake Nyos disaster
Date21 August 1986 (1986-08-21)
Location Cameroon
Coordinates 6°26′N10°18′E / 6.44°N 10.30°E / 6.44; 10.30
Type Limnic eruption
Deaths1,746
Non-fatal injuries845

On 21 August 1986, a limnic eruption at Lake Nyos in northwestern Cameroon killed 1,746 people and 3,500 livestock. [1]

Contents

The eruption triggered the sudden release of about 100,000–300,000 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2). [2] [3] The gas cloud initially rose at nearly 100 kilometres per hour (62 mph; 28 m/s) and then, being heavier than air, descended onto nearby villages, suffocating people and livestock within 25 kilometres (16 mi) of the lake. [4] [5]

A degassing system has since been installed at the lake, with the aim of reducing the concentration of CO2 in the waters and therefore the risk of further eruptions. Along with the Lake Monoun disaster two years earlier, it is one of only two recorded limnic eruptions in history. [6]

Eruption and gas release

What triggered the catastrophic outgassing is not known. [7] [8] [9] Most geologists suspect a landslide, but some believe that a small volcanic eruption may have occurred on the bed of the lake. [10] [11] A third possibility is that cool rainwater falling on one side of the lake triggered the overturn. Others still[ who? ] believe there was a small earthquake, but because witnesses did not report feeling any tremors on the morning of the disaster, this hypothesis is unlikely.[ citation needed ] The event resulted in the supersaturated deep water rapidly mixing with the upper layers of the lake, where the reduced pressure allowed the stored CO2 to effervesce out of solution. [12]

It is believed that about 1.2 cubic kilometres (4.2×1010 cu ft) of gas was released. [13] The normally blue waters of the lake turned a deep red after the outgassing, due to iron-rich water from the deep rising to the surface and being oxidised by the air. The level of the lake dropped by about a metre [14] and trees near the lake were knocked down. [15]

Scientists concluded from evidence that a 100 m (330 ft) column of water and foam formed at the surface of the lake, spawning a wave of at least 25 metres (82 ft) that swept the shore on one side. [16]

Since carbon dioxide is 1.5 times the density of air, the cloud hugged the ground and moved down the valleys, where there were various villages. The mass was about 50 metres (160 ft) thick, and travelled downward at 20–50 kilometres per hour (12–31 mph; 5.6–13.9 m/s). For roughly 23 kilometres (14 mi), the gas cloud was concentrated enough to suffocate many people in their sleep in the villages of Nyos, Kam, Cha, and Subum. [4] About 4,000 inhabitants fled the area, and many of these developed respiratory problems, lesions, and paralysis as a result of the gas cloud. [17]

It is a possibility that other volcanic gases were released along with the CO2, as some survivors reported a smell of gunpowder or rotten eggs, which indicates that sulfur dioxide and hydrogen sulfide were present at concentrations above their odour thresholds. However, CO2 was the only gas detected in samples of lake water, suggesting that this was the predominant gas released and as such the main cause of the incident. [17]

Effects on survivors

Cattle suffocated by carbon dioxide from Lake Nyos Cow killed by Lake Nyos gasses.jpg
Cattle suffocated by carbon dioxide from Lake Nyos

Reporters in the area described the scene as "looking like the aftermath of a neutron bomb." [18] One survivor, Joseph Nkwain from Subum, described himself when he awoke after the gases had struck: [4] [19]

I could not speak. I became unconscious. I could not open my mouth because then I smelled something terrible ... I heard my daughter snoring in a terrible way, very abnormal ... When crossing to my daughter's bed ... I collapsed and fell. I was there till nine o'clock in the morning (of Friday, the next day) ... until a friend of mine came and knocked at my door ... I was surprised to see that my trousers were red, had some stains like honey. I saw some ... starchy mess on my body. My arms had some wounds ... I didn't really know how I got these wounds ... I opened the door ... I wanted to speak, my breath would not come out ... My daughter was already dead ... I went into my daughter's bed, thinking that she was still sleeping. I slept till it was 4.30 in the afternoon ... on Friday (the same day). (Then) I managed to go over to my neighbours' houses. They were all dead ... I decided to leave ... (because) most of my family was in Wum ... I got my motorcycle ... A friend whose father had died left with me (for) Wum ... As I rode ... through Nyos I didn't see any sign of any living thing ... (When I got to Wum), I was unable to walk, even to talk ... my body was completely weak.

Following the eruption, many survivors were treated at the main hospital in Yaoundé, the country's capital. It was believed that many of the victims had been poisoned by sulphur-based gases. Poisoning by these gases would lead to burning pains in the eyes and nose, coughing and signs of asphyxiation similar to being strangled. [9]

Interviews with survivors and pathologic studies indicated that victims rapidly lost consciousness and that death was caused by CO2 asphyxiation. [20] At nonlethal levels, CO2 can produce sensory hallucinations, such that many people exposed to CO2 report the odor of sulfuric compounds when none are present. [20] Skin lesions found on survivors represent pressure sores, and in a few cases exposure to a heat source, but there is no evidence of chemical burns or of flash burns from exposure to hot gases. [20]

De-gassing

The scale of the disaster led to much study on how a recurrence could be prevented. [21] Several researchers proposed the installation of degassing columns from rafts in the middle of the lake. [22] [23] The principle is to slowly vent the CO2 by lifting heavily saturated water from the bottom of the lake through a pipe, initially by using a pump, but only until the release of gas inside the pipe naturally lifts the column of effervescing water, making the process self-sustaining. [24]

Starting from 1995, feasibility studies were successfully conducted, and the first permanent degassing tube was installed at Lake Nyos in 2001. Two additional pipes were installed in 2011. [24] [25] In 2019 it was determined that the degassing had reached an essentially steady state and that a single one of the installed pipes would be able to self-sustain the degassing process into the future, indefinitely maintaining the CO2 at a safe level, without any need for external power. [26]

Similar danger suspected at Lake Kivu

Following the Lake Nyos disaster, scientists investigated other African lakes to see if a similar phenomenon could happen elsewhere. In 2005, Lake Kivu in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, 2,000 times larger than Lake Nyos, was also found to be supersaturated, and geologists found evidence that outgassing events around the lake happened about every thousand years. [27]

However, a study undertaken in 2018 and released in 2020 found flaws in the 2005 study, including a possible bias in the conversion of concentrations to partial pressures, to an overestimation of concentrations, or to a problem of calibration of sensors at high pressure. The 2020 study found that when these errors were accounted for, the risk of a gas eruption at Lake Kivu did not seem to be increasing over time. [28]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lake Nyos</span> Crater lake in the Northwest Region of Cameroon

Lake Nyos is a crater lake in the Northwest Region of Cameroon, located about 315 km (196 mi) northwest of Yaoundé, the capital. Nyos is a deep lake high on the flank of an inactive volcano in the Oku volcanic plain along the Cameroon line of volcanic activity. A volcanic dam impounds the lake waters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lake Kivu</span> Meromictic lake in the East African Rift valley

Lake Kivu is one of the African Great Lakes. It lies on the border between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda, and is in the Albertine Rift, the western branch of the East African Rift. Lake Kivu empties into the Ruzizi River, which flows southwards into Lake Tanganyika. In 1894, German officer and colonial ruler Gustav Adolf von Götzen was the first European to discover the lake.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Meromictic lake</span> Permanently stratified lake with layers of water that do not intermix

A meromictic lake is a lake which has layers of water that do not intermix. In ordinary, holomictic lakes, at least once each year, there is a physical mixing of the surface and the deep waters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Plinian eruption</span> Type of volcanic eruption

Plinian eruptions or Vesuvian eruptions are volcanic eruptions marked by their similarity to the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD, which destroyed the ancient Roman cities of Herculaneum and Pompeii. The eruption was described in a letter written by Pliny the Younger, after the death of his uncle Pliny the Elder.

Dar-Alages is a group of six cinder lava cones south of Lake Sevan in Armenia. Fissure eruptions from Vaiyots-Sar dammed the Arpa river at Vayk and continued down the valley for 6 km. These lava flows are considered Holocene in age given the lack of a soil cover and their placement above a Pleistocene river terrace. Smbatassar cinder cones likewise generated two lava flows of 11 and 17 km length that overlie Pleistocene Yeheghis river terraces, thus also dating to the Holocene. Legends of the destruction of the towns Yegheghis and Moz in 735 AD may be linked to activity in these volcanoes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Haraldur Sigurðsson</span> Icelandic volcanologist and geochemist (born 1939)

Haraldur Sigurðsson or Haraldur Sigurdsson is an Icelandic volcanologist and geochemist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Limnic eruption</span> Type of natural disaster

A limnic eruption, also known as a lake overturn, is a very rare type of natural disaster in which dissolved carbon dioxide suddenly erupts from deep lake waters, forming a gas cloud capable of asphyxiating wildlife, livestock, and humans. Scientists believe earthquakes, volcanic activity, and other explosive events can serve as triggers for limnic eruptions as the rising CO2 displaces water. Lakes in which such activity occurs are referred to as limnically active lakes or exploding lakes. Some features of limnically active lakes include:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lake Monoun</span> Lake in West Province, Cameroon

Lake Monoun is a crater lake (maar) in West Province, Cameroon, that lies in the Oku Volcanic Field. On August 15, 1984, a limnic eruption occurred at the lake, which resulted in the release of a large amount of carbon dioxide that killed 37 people. At first, the deaths remained unexplained, and causes such as terrorism were suspected. Further investigation and a similar event two years later at Lake Nyos led to the currently accepted explanation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wum</span> Commune and town in Northwest Province, Cameroon

Wum is a town and commune in Cameroon. It is the capital of Menchum division in the Northwest Province.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Effusive eruption</span> Type of volcanic eruption characterized by steady lava flow

An effusive eruption is a type of volcanic eruption in which lava steadily flows out of a volcano onto the ground.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Volcanic gas</span> Gases given off by active volcanoes

Volcanic gases are gases given off by active volcanoes. These include gases trapped in cavities (vesicles) in volcanic rocks, dissolved or dissociated gases in magma and lava, or gases emanating from lava, from volcanic craters or vents. Volcanic gases can also be emitted through groundwater heated by volcanic action.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lac Pavin</span> Meromictic, volcanic crater lake in Puy-de-Dôme, France

Lac Pavin or Lake Pavin is a meromictic crater lake, located in the Dore mountains, in Auvergne, in the territory of the commune of Besse-et-Saint-Anastaise, Puy-de-Dôme department of France, between Besse-en-Chandesse and Super-Besse. Formed by phreatomagmatism 6,900 years ago, this crater lake is the youngest volcano in mainland France

The magma supply rate measures the production rate of magma at a volcano. Global magma production rates on Earth are about 20–25 cubic kilometres per year (4.8–6.0 cu mi/a).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Multi-component gas analyzer system</span>

A multi-component gas analyzer system (Multi-GAS) is an instrument package used to take real-time high-resolution measurements of volcanic gases. A Multi-GAS package includes an infrared spectrometer for CO2, two electrochemical sensors for SO2 and H2S, and pressure–temperature–humidity sensors, all in a weatherproof box. The system can be used for individual surveys or set up as permanent stations connected to radio transmitters for transmission of data from remote locations. The instrument package is portable, and its operation and data analysis are simple enough to be conducted by non-specialists.

The Deep Earth Carbon Degassing (DECADE) project is an initiative to unite scientists around the world to make tangible advances towards quantifying the amount of carbon outgassed from the Earth's deep interior into the surface environment through naturally occurring processes. DECADE is an initiative within the Deep Carbon Observatory (DCO).

Clive Oppenheimer is a British volcanologist, and Professor of Volcanology in the Department of Geography of the University of Cambridge.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fumarole mineral</span> Minerals which are deposited by fumarole exhalations

Fumarole minerals are minerals which are deposited by fumarole exhalations. They form when gases and compounds desublimate or precipitate out of condensates, forming mineral deposits. They are mostly associated with volcanoes following deposition from volcanic gas during an eruption or discharge from a volcanic vent or fumarole, but have been encountered on burning coal deposits as well. They can be black or multicoloured and are often unstable upon exposure to the atmosphere.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Volcanic tsunami</span> Natural hazard

A volcanic tsunami, also called a volcanogenic tsunami, is a tsunami produced by volcanic phenomena. About 20–25% of all fatalities at volcanoes during the past 250 years have been caused by volcanic tsunamis. The most devastating volcanic tsunami in recorded history was that produced by the 1883 eruption of Krakatoa. The waves reached heights of 40 m (130 ft) and killed 36,000 people.

References

  1. ↑ Hammond, Trevor (1 August 2018). "Lake Nyos Disaster: August 21, 1986". Fishwrap. Archived from the original on 10 October 2022. Retrieved 14 April 2021.
  2. ↑ Socolow, Robert H. (July 2005). "Can We Bury Global Warming?" . Scientific American . Vol. 293, no. 1. pp. 49–55. Bibcode:2005SciAm.293a..49S. doi:10.1038/scientificamerican0705-49. ISSN   0036-8733. JSTOR   26061071. PMID   16008301.
  3. ↑ Mathew Fomine, Forka Leypey (2011). "The Strange Lake Nyos CO2 Gas Disaster". Australasian Journal of Disaster and Trauma Studies. 2011–1. ISSN   1174-4707. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 4 February 2016.
  4. 1 2 3 Camp, Vic (31 March 2006). "Lake Nyos (1986)". San Diego State University. Archived from the original on 21 December 2008. Retrieved 19 December 2008.
  5. ↑ Smolowe, Jill; Phillips, B. J. (8 September 1986). "Cameroon the Lake of Death". TIME . Vol. 128, no. 10. pp. 34–37. Archived from the original on 27 February 2009. Retrieved 9 December 2013.
  6. ↑ Ohba, Takeshi, et al. "A Depression Containing CO2-Enriched Water at the Bottom of Lake Monoun, Cameroon, and Implications for the 1984 Limnic Eruption." Frontiers in Earth Science, vol. 10, May 2022, p. 766791. DOI.org (Crossref), https://doi.org/10.3389/feart.2022.766791.
  7. ↑ Cotel, Aline J. (March 1999). "A trigger mechanism for the Lake Nyos disaster". Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research . 88 (4): 343–347. Bibcode:1999JVGR...88..343C. doi:10.1016/s0377-0273(99)00017-7. ISSN   0377-0273.
  8. ↑ Rouwet, Dmitri; Tanyileke, Greg; Costa, Antonio (12 July 2016). "Cameroon's Lake Nyos Gas Burst: 30 Years Later". Eos . 97. doi: 10.1029/2016eo055627 . eISSN   2324-9250. ISSN   0096-3941. Archived from the original on 18 February 2022. Retrieved 18 February 2022.
  9. 1 2 "Hundreds gassed in Cameroon lake disaster". BBC . 21 August 1986. Archived from the original on 24 October 2017. Retrieved 19 December 2008.
  10. ↑ Rice, A (April 2000). "Rollover in Volcanic Crater Lakes: A Possible Cause for Lake Nyos Type Disasters". Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research . 97 (1–4): 233–239. Bibcode:2000JVGR...97..233R. doi:10.1016/s0377-0273(99)00179-1. ISSN   0377-0273. Archived from the original on 18 February 2022. Retrieved 18 February 2022.
  11. ↑ Aka, Festus Tongwa (3 March 2015). "Depth of Melt Segregation Below the Nyos Maar-Diatreme Volcano (Cameroon, West Africa): Major-Trace Element Evidence and Their Bearing on the Origin of CO2 in Lake Nyos". Volcanic Lakes. Advances in Volcanology. Springer Berlin Heidelberg. pp. 467–488. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-36833-2_21. ISBN   978-3642368325.
  12. ↑ Kusakabe, Minoru; Ohsumi, Takashi; Aramaki, Shigeo (November 1989). "The Lake Nyos gas disaster: chemical and isotopic evidence in waters and dissolved gases from three Cameroonian crater lakes, Nyos, Monoun and Wum". Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research . 39 (2–3): 167–185. Bibcode:1989JVGR...39..167K. doi:10.1016/0377-0273(89)90056-5. ISSN   0377-0273. Archived from the original on 18 February 2022. Retrieved 18 February 2022.
  13. ↑ Alex (21 May 2007). "The Strangest Disaster of the 20th Century". Neatorama. Archived from the original on 29 September 2011. Retrieved 20 June 2010.
  14. ↑ "Gas cloud kills Cameroon villagers". HISTORY. A&E Television Networks. 13 November 2009. Archived from the original on 31 December 2023. Retrieved 31 December 2023.
  15. ↑ Witucki, Mary (2018). DISASTER RISK IN THE LAKE NYOS AREA, CAMEROON: EFFECTS OF THE GAS HAZARD AND SOCIALLY PRODUCED VULNERABILITY (PDF) (Master of Science in Geology thesis). Houghton, Michigan: Michigan Technological University. doi: 10.37099/mtu.dc.etdr/758 . OCLC   1150782660. S2CID   134744487. ProQuest   13422443. Archived from the original on 31 December 2023. Retrieved 31 December 2023.
  16. ↑ Brown, David (1 February 2000). "Scientists hope to quiet Cameroon's killer lakes". The Seattle Times . The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 14 August 2022. Retrieved 19 December 2008.
  17. 1 2 Baxtor, Peter J.; Kapila, M.; Mfonfu, D. (27 May 1989). "Lake Nyos disaster, Cameroon, 1986: the medical effects of large scale emission of carbon dioxide?" (PDF). The BMJ . 298 (6685): 1437–1441. doi: 10.1136/bmj.298.6685.1437 . eISSN   1756-1833. ISSN   0959-8138. JSTOR   29704127. PMC   1836556 . PMID   2502283. Archived (PDF) from the original on 18 February 2022. Retrieved 18 February 2022.
  18. ↑ DeYoung, Karen (27 August 1986). "Cameroon Toll above 1500". The Washington Post . Yaounde, Cameroon. Archived from the original on 11 February 2021. Retrieved 29 May 2021.
  19. ↑ A. Scarth. USGS, 1999.
  20. 1 2 3 Kling, George W.; Clark, Michael A.; Compton, Harry R.; Devine, Joseph D.; Evans, William C.; Humphrey, Alan M.; Koenigsberg, Edward J.; Lockwood, John P.; Tuttle, Michele L.; Wagner, Glen N. (10 April 1987). "The 1986 Lake Nyos Gas Disaster in Cameroon, West Africa". Science . 236 (4798): 169–175. Bibcode:1987Sci...236..169K. doi:10.1126/science.236.4798.169. JSTOR   1698383. PMID   17789781. S2CID   40896330. Archived from the original on 5 June 2022. Retrieved 14 June 2022.
  21. ↑ Kling, George W.; Evans, William C.; Tanyileke, Greg; Kusakabe, Minoru; Ohba, Takeshi; Yoshida, Yutaka; Hell, Joseph V. (4 October 2005). "Degassing Lakes Nyos and Monoun: Defusing certain disaster". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences . 102 (40): 14185–14190. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0502274102 . JSTOR   3376714. PMC   1242283 . PMID   16186504.
  22. ↑ Halbwachs, Michel; Sabroux, Jean-Christophe (20 April 2001). "Removing CO2 from Lake Nyos in Cameroon". Science . 292 (5516): 438. doi:10.1126/science.292.5516.438a. ISSN   0036-8075. JSTOR   3082763. PMID   11330293. S2CID   37879846. Archived from the original on 18 February 2022. Retrieved 18 February 2022.
  23. ↑ Schmid, Martin; Halbwachs, Michel; Wüest, Alfred (1 June 2006). "Simulation of CO2 concentrations, temperature, and stratification in Lake Nyos for different degassing scenarios". Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems. 7 (6): 1–14. Bibcode:2006GGG.....7.6019S. doi: 10.1029/2005GC001164 . ISSN   1525-2027. S2CID   135335849. Archived from the original on 17 August 2020. Retrieved 10 December 2019.
  24. 1 2 Halbwachs, Michel; Grangeon, Jacques; Sabroux, Jean-Christophe; Wong, Brice (c. 2001). "Degassing Lake Nyos project". mhalb.pagesperso-orange.fr. Archived from the original on 1 December 2021. Retrieved 1 January 2022.
    "January February 2001 expedition". pagesperso-orange.fr/mhalb. Archived from the original on 6 February 2009. Retrieved 22 August 2016.
  25. ↑ "Le degazage du lac Nyos". Science Actualités – Ressources. Universcience.fr. Cité des sciences et de l'industrie – Paris: Expositions, conférences, cinémas, activités culturelles et sorties touristiques pour les enfants, les parents, les familles (in French). Archived from the original on 3 January 2012. Retrieved 17 October 2012.
  26. ↑ Halbwachs, Michel; Sabroux, Jean-Christophe; Kayser, Gaston (2020). "Final step of the 32 year Lake Nyos degassing adventure: Natural CO2 recharge is to be balanced by discharge through the degassing pipes". Journal of African Earth Sciences . 167: 103575. Bibcode:2020JAfES.16703575H. doi: 10.1016/j.jafrearsci.2019.103575 . ISSN   1464-343X.
  27. ↑ Schmid, Martin; Halbwachs, Michel; Wehrli, Bernhard; Wüest, Alfred (July 2005). "Weak mixing in Lake Kivu: New insights indicate increasing risk of uncontrolled gas eruption". Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems. 6 (7): Q07009. Bibcode:2005GGG.....6.7009S. doi: 10.1029/2004GC000892 . S2CID   67818415. Archived from the original on 25 July 2021. Retrieved 14 June 2022.
  28. ↑ Bärenbold, Fabian; Boehrer, Bertram; Grilli, Roberto; Mugisha, Ange; von Tümpling, Wolf; Umutoni, Augusta; Schmid, Martin (25 August 2020). "No Increasing Risk of a Limnic Eruption at Lake Kivu: Intercomparison Study Reveals Gas Concentrations Close to Steady State". PLoS One . 15 (8): 11. Bibcode:2020PLoSO..1537836B. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0237836 . PMC   7446963 . PMID   32841245. S2CID   221325800.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.