On August 21, 1986, Lake Nyos exploded. The crater lake in Cameroon didn't make much noise at all. There was no lava, steam, smoke, ash, or fire, but by morning the damage was done. Almost all the people, animals, and even insects were dead for miles around, with no apparent clues as to what killed them. The threat was gone by the time investigators arrived. They eventually figured out the Lake Nyos itself was the culprit, as the lake suddenly released enough carbon dioxide to kill 1,746 people and 3,500 head of cattle.
How could a lake hold that much carbon dioxide? How could it suddenly release so much of it? Most lakes can only absorb one liter of carbon dioxide per liter of water at normal pressure and temperature. However, Lake Nyos is 682 feet deep. At the bottom, the pressure is high and the temperature is low, so each liter of water can hold 20 times as much carbon dioxide as the surface water. Lake Nyos is also a volcanic crater, and was apparently taking in gasses at its lower depths. John Richard Saylor, author of the new book Lakes: Their Birth, Life, and Death, gives us the scientific explanation of how a deep lake could suddenly regurgitate deadly amounts of CO2 at Atlas Obscura. -via Strange Company
(Image credit: US Geological Survey)
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