Thread by @kavsmaina

The sun is shinning and it is just an interesting day for science and learning. One night in a village in Cameroon something happened that would change their lives forever and not for the better. It was on August 21st 1986, a busy market day in lower Nyos. The kinda day that

makes you just wanna shower and go do bed early because you are bone tired. Well, that evening was not like other evenings. The air was punctuated by the sound of an explosion... not close enough to cause any immediate panic but one that anyone would note as strange.

The next morning, many would wake up to what could only be described as apocalyptic. People, animals and even insects lay dead. Apparently unharmed but dead none the less and conspiracy theories became the order of the day. Was it a strange government experiment or aliens?

It was neither. It was science & nature coming together with a disastrous effect. A limnic eruption at Laky Nyos had killed 1,746 people and 3,500 livestock. How had this happened? What had caused it? How could it have been avoided. The eruption resulted in the release of

1.6 million tons of CO2. The cloud of gas initially rose at 100km/hr then being heavier than air descended onto the villages, displacing all the air and suffocating residents and livestock within 25km of the lake. Imagine the horror!

😭😭😭

This is suspected to have been caused by a small eruption at the bottom of the crater lake or a landslide which resulted in supersaturated deep water rising and mixing with the upper layers of the lake where the reduced pressure led to the release of the CO2

- 1.2 cubic kms of CO2 released
- Normally blue waters of the crater lake turned a deep red ( iron rich water being oxidized on reaching the surface
- Lake level dropped an entire meter
- Trees near the lake were knocked down!

Can y'all picture this scene?

This was not the first time Lake Nyos had killed researchers were informed by locals of magical springs that can kill frogs and birds. As soon as the animals approach the spring they drop dead. ( Well we all know now it is not about magic)!

The researchers discovered that the supposed haunted springs are hot springs with a very high concentration of volcanic gases. Lethal lakes like Nyos are not common as they need some very specific conditions to form.

The lake must be situated in a tropical climate where temperatures remain high all the year round, as pronounced seasonal temperature-changes can cause annual lake overturning that will release the stored carbon-dioxide.

The lake must be of volcanic or tectonic origin to be deep enough that the pressure, depending from the height of the water-column, on the bottom holds the gases dissolved in the water. The lake must be located where volcanic gases flow from the ground or hot springs occur.

These conditions are found in two other African lakes. Manoun & Kivu. August 15, 1984 an explosion, probably caused by a sudden gas escape, killed 37 people at Lake Manoun in Cameroon. The shores of Lake Kivu, located at the border of Rwanda and Congo, are densely populated.

The concentration of gas measured in the superficial layers, in part of volcanic and in part of bacterial origin, are also extraordinarily high in this Lake Kivu a relatively large lake. To prevent future catastrophic events, degassing pipes were installed in Nyos and Manoun.

However, this solution works only for smaller lakes and Lake Kivu, with its gas concentration slowly rising, is still considered by many experts as a disaster in the making.

Will the world wait for it to strike?