what happened at lake nyos

In 1986, the smaller lake, which also experiences the same gaseous phenomenon, exploded, releasing a gas cloud that asphyxiated almost 1,800 people nearby. In the image, one of the suffocated cows that the authorities discovered the next day. Attention to the problems posed by natural hazards in West and Central Africa was brought into sharp focus by the deaths of an estimated 1700 people in the valleys to the north of Lake Nyos in 1986. lake is similar to what is happening in Lake Nyos, but is more pronounced because L. Monoun is smaller and the degassing pipe is having a greater relative effect. Available at: https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2020/country-chapters/cameroon. Imagine if, many millions of years ago, dinosaurs drove cars through cities of mile-high buildings. Or, can science unravel the clues and help us understand the mystery? After all, only two years beforehand, a similar eruption event occurred in Lake Monoun, just 99.8 kilometer (62 miles) southeast of Nyos. During the 1980s, political unrest was rife during the complex hand over from Ahidjo to Paul Biya as Prime Minister of Cameroon. On the evening of August 21, 1986, a silent, invisible killer raced down the hills around Lake Nyos, taking the lives of nearly everything in its path. However, eruptions in some volcanic lakes such as Lake Monoun, Lake Kivu, and Lake Nyos have led to several deaths. The sudden, catastrophic release of gas from Lake Nyos on 21 August 1986 caused the deaths of at least 1700 people in the northwest area of Cameroon, West Africa. In the end, perhaps the Lake Nyos tragedy foretold of hardships to come for Cameroon. Lake Nyos is a "volcanic lake" - one of over 30 in Cameroon. Cameroon's northwest region is home to almost 250 indigenous ethnic groups with various religions ranging from Islam, Christianity, and countless other faiths. The lake is situated on the flank of an inactive Oku volcanic plain. When the release of 1.6 million tons of concentrated carbon dioxide bubbles ascended from the lake, it created a gaseous haze of white that ascended 99.8 kilometer (62 mi) per hour and then descended upon the southern shore. Whatever it was, the water got saturated with carbon dioxide. (United States Geological Survey / Public domain ). At first, the Cameroonian government worried about terrorism through chemical warfare, but it was soon proven natural. The Copper Age: When Metallurgy Came to Rule the World. With tensions rising in the region, the Cameroon Government of the time was significantly preoccupied by the potential for acts of terrorism. One anonymous account mentioned the emergence of a large demonic froth that shot up with intense fury, causing an acidic wave which dissolved any plant life that was in its way. ( Fabian / Adobe Stock). The eruption released about 1 cubic kilometre of CO 2, or about 1 billion cubic metres, killing 1,800 people and 3,000 animals. As this conflict continues, many villagers have formed militia groups to protect themselves. In other stories, the crater lake sends mosquito messengers in its rage to curse people who dare attempt to part or cross the waters, engulfing them in mystical waves or putting them to sleep using evil vapor demons. Chemical, isotopic, geologic, and medical evidence support the hypotheses that (i) the bulk of gas released was carbon dioxide that had been stored in the lake's hypolimnion, (ii) the victims exposed to the gas cloud died of … Are the Distinctive Kalash People of Pakistan Really Descendants of Alexander the Great’s Army? Lake Nyos is a water-filled throat of an old volcano and it is deep and funnel-shaped. 2014. In addition, none of the witnesses reported a tremor. In the late 1890s, as America was developing into an industrial heavyweight, its scientists and explorers were rediscovering Earth’s ancient past and charting forgotten civilizations around our planet. Der See wurde durch die Nyos-Tragödie bekannt, bei der im August 1986 plötzlich große Mengen von Kohlenstoffdioxid (CO2) aus dem See austraten und etwa 1700 Bewohner der umliegenden Dörfer töteten. Lake Nyos in 1986, a month after the tragedy. We think we're the first advanced earthlings - but how do we really know? Prior to that the only, well documented, major natural catastrophe was the 1983 earthquake which killed at least 275 people in northwestern Guinea. With 1788 people dead, and 55% of the livestock gone, the researchers worried that there would be a lack of farming jobs available. The gas had a mass of about 160 feet and traveled at a speed of 12-31 miles per hour. Boyle's Law-is an experimental gas law which describes how the prssure of gas tends to decrease as the volume of a gas increases. In 1986, possibly as the result of a landslide, Lake Nyos suddenly emitted a large cloud of CO 2, which suffocated 1,746 people and 3,500 livestock in nearby towns and villages. One large theme that is emphasized by Eby and Evans is the concept of good and evil water, exploding lakes, and evil bodies of water transferring from one place to another. Lake Nyos is a volcanic lake in the northwestern region of Cameroon, situated some 196 miles northwest of the capital Yaoundé. There is a pretty good consensus as to what happened at Lake Nyos (in 1986, by the way). On August 21, 1986, in northwestern Cameroon, a massive froth shot up into the sky from the waters of Lake Nyos, followed by a thick ghostly fog which covered the surrounding landscape. The principle is to slowly vent the CO 2 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. Soon after, the international media began to report on what had occurred. The degassing system was installed in 2001 and successfully reduced the risk of another disaster cloud of concentrated carbon dioxide. The origins of human beings according to ancient Sumerian texts, Unearthing Ancient Magic in The Runes –Messages with Hidden Symbols and Powerful Numbers, Petroglyphic Features of Portable Rock Art, The Northern Mysteries Current: Futhark and Mystery Schools of the Viking Age, Medusa, The Lake That Turns Flesh Into Stone, Lake of Blood: The dark history of Laguna Yahuarcocha, Ecuador, Deadly Volcanoes: The Eruptions that Reshaped the World and Became Legends, https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidbressan/2019/08/21/the-deadly-cloud-at-lake-nyos/#4cb9e0015dbf, https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/defusing-africas-killer-lakes-88765263/, https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2020/country-chapters/cameroon, https://www.nature.com/articles/srep06151, Reunification Monument for a Divided Cameroon, Lost in the Mists of Time: The Ancient Sao Civilization in Central Africa. Those who collapsed unconscious suffocated in their immobile state. Students find out when they re-create the conditions at Lake Nyos. As they arrived by Nyos and Cha, they were ordered to go house by house and find as many survivors as possible. Shanklin, Eugenia. Hundreds toppled to the ground over fires, uneaten dinners, and dirt roads. Alignment of the Pyramids of Chichen Itza, What's your favourite Fairy Tales (and their possible origins), about Reunification Monument for a Divided Cameroon, about Lost in the Mists of Time: The Ancient Sao Civilization in Central Africa, Burrowing Rabbits Discover Priceless Artifacts On Skokholm Island, Ten Things the Ancients Did Better than Us, The Gundestrup Cauldron: Largest and Most Exquisite Iron Age Silver Work in Europe, 800-Year-Old Boomerang Discovered in Australian Creek, 2,500-Year-Old Carpet is Stunning Reflection of Advanced Culture of the Pazyryk Nomads, Icelandic Sorcerers and the Books of Black Magic They Coveted. On the evening of August 26, 1986, without warning, a deadly cloud of carbon dioxide (CO2) gas was released from Lake Nyos in Cameroon, West Africa, Killing over 1,700 people and 6,000 head of livestock in the valley below. Some experts attribute the cause to a landslide, others stick to a small volcanic eruption on the lake’s bed, and others theorize the cause as cool rainwater. A preposterous idea, right? These lakes formed following volcanic episodes in which plums of magma, rising from the … Available at: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/defusing-africas-killer-lakes-88765263/, Roth, Kenneth. But, not all the survivors were able to bury their dead. How the release of a massive amount of carbon dioxide t... How the release of … A few folks disagree on the details, but the main event was the sudden release of a large cloud of carbon dioxide gas from the lake. Within the 208-meter depths (682 ft) of Lake Nyos rested a porous deposit of ancient volcanic boulders and ash. As stated before, the water is extremely saturated with carbo… Der Nyos-See ist ein Kratersee in Kamerun (Zentralafrika). Many of these cultural groups were taught at a young age never to cross through the lake, but others went against the collective warning passed down through the generations by their elders and chose to settle closer to the banks of the legendary lake. At least 1,200 people are feared dead in Cameroon, West Africa, after a cloud of lethal gas escaped from a volcanic lake. “The Deadly Cloud At Lake Nyos” in Forbes. However, others suspect that there must have been some volcanic eruption on the lake’s bed. 150,000-Year-Old Pipes Baffle Scientists in China: Out of Place in Time? In 1986, a deadly cloud of carbon dioxide gas was released from Lake Nyos in Cameroon, West Africa, killing over 1,700 people and 6,000 head of livestock. Between 9 p.m. to 10 p.m., the event claimed hundreds of human lives, and the death toll amongst livestock, birds, and insects numbered the thousands. At Ancient Origins, we believe that one of the most important fields of knowledge we can pursue as human beings is our beginnings. As documented by anthropologist Eugenia Shanklin, other accounts describe the mercurial nature of the rising, receding and the exploding turbulence endured. To compound the problem, Lake Nyos is unusually still. It is still not clear what led the eruption of Lake Nyos but some geologists think that it resulted from a landslide. Though Ahidjo was eventually tried for his crimes, the stigma of a potential uprising forced Biya to compromise his wishes for democracy and he reinstated the government's harsher authoritarian methods. Ask the students to predict what will happen as you pour the carbon dioxide gas into the plastic box near the end where the tall candle is. As mentioned by Shanklin (1988), the researchers recommended that the local roads be upgraded and that former cattle rearers be taught farming techniques to accommodate for livestock loss. Those living farthest from the epicenter mentioned first smelling something foul, and then seeing a thick gaseous entity engulfing farmhouses and buildings along the way. "Beautiful Deadly Lake Nyos: The Explosion and its Aftermath" in Anthropology Today 4 (1): 12-14. Folklore had warned of these events, but what does western science make of the incident? What happened at Lake Nyos : the limnic eruption phenomenon. They ended up proposing a degassing network to control the emissions of carbon dioxide from the bottom of the crater lake. Lake Nyos is located in western Cameroon, adjacent to Nigeria, in the elbow region of west Africa. Wagner is a storyteller, a sword fighter, and a fan of humanity’s past. The conflict between the government under Prime Minister Paul Biya and the terrorist organization has resulted in thousands of deaths and the displacement of 300,000 people. The idea is slowly to allow the heavily saturated water at the base of the lake to come to the surface through the pipe. Those whose lives were spared, buried their dead and then made their way to refugee camps being set up by the Cameroon Government who had received word within a few hours of the incident and were in the process of evacuating 4,000 villagers who lived in the region. Particularly striking is the Reunification Monument in Cameroon. As explanations for the sixth plague go, Jacobovici’s is woefully inadequate. “Defusing Africa's Killer Lakes” in Smithsonian Magazine . By bringing together top experts and authors, this archaeology website explores lost civilizations, examines sacred writings, tours ancient places, investigates ancient discoveries and questions mysterious happenings. 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