What a Quiet Lake Can Hide

Name: What a Quiet Lake Can Hide
Genre: Documentary

Nyos and Monoun become a global warning that serene water can conceal volcanic chemistry capable of mass asphyxiation.

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Transcript

The Lake Nyos disaster released large amounts of carbon dioxide accumulated in the lake.
Lake Nyos occupies a maar in the southern continental Cameroon Volcanic Line.
In 1984, Lake Monoun suffered a lethal gas burst that killed 37 people.
The event is called a limnic eruption, releasing a carbon dioxide cloud from water.
On August 21st, 1986, Lake Nyos released large amounts of accumulated carbon dioxide.
It killed some 1,700 people and 3,500 domestic animals.
Clinical findings from 845 survivors matched exposure to an asphyxiant gas.
Rescuers saw redness and blisters on some corpses, first thought to be acidic-gas burns.
Further investigation linked those lesions to coma states caused by carbon dioxide in air.
The medical study did not exclude other toxic factors in the gas release.
The 1987 USGS final report was prepared by a United States scientific team.
New dating found the maar's average maximum eruption age of 12,300 years.
After the 1986 eruption, Lake Nyos had degassing piping anchored to a raft.
Comparing both outbreaks suggested carbon dioxide exposure may affect the body in several ways.
Degassing pipes can produce a fountain reaching about 148 feet (45 meters); a dam collapse threatens about 10,000 people in valleys below.

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