amicus
Literotica Guru
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Being a bit of a curious curmudgeon at that, a program on the Discovery Science Channel, entitled, ‘Killer Lakes’, caught my attention tonight. The program will be re run at 1am eastern time tonight for anyone interested.
Of all the natural disasters throughout the ages afflicting mankind, I never ever before heard of an exploding lake.
Apparently a large landslide tumbled into the lake, all the way to the bottom an opened an escape vent to a large amount of CO2, carbon dioxide gas and methane gas, that had naturally accumulated over time.
The end of the program stated that core samples of the lake bed proved that such ‘overturnings’ had happened before at usually about 1,000 year intervals over about a 5,000 year history.
CO2 is a heavier than air gas that replaces oxygen and is used in fire extinguishers. The explosion of the gas in the lake created a tidal wave of about 80 feet in height and the gas spread out over a nearby village and asphyxiated about 1800 people.
I had the thought that in the far distant past how difficult it might be for the indigenous people to explain such an event in real terms. The more I learn, the less I know about the origin of cultural myths and legends that may or may not possess items of truth.
Curious…
http://www.newscientist.com/channel/earth/mg18825195.100.html
Article Preview
Killer lakes in Cameroon may strike again
• 01 October 2005
•
• Magazine issue 2519
Unless urgent action is taken there may be a repeat of the tragedies of the 1980s when sudden releases of carbon dioxide killed thousands
EFFORTS to prevent the release of deadly clouds of gas from two African lakes appear to be failing. Some 1800 people died of asphyxiation during the 1980s when Lakes Nyos and Monoun in Cameroon suddenly released clouds of carbon dioxide over the surrounding countryside.
In an effort to vent the gas at a safe, controlled rate, a pipe was placed in Lake Nyos in 2001 and Lake Monoun in 2003. But the pipes are not working fast enough, says George Kling at the University of Michigan, whose team has analysed 12 years' worth of data on the lakes. Although the pipes are gradually reducing CO2 levels in the water, the rate is dropping as gas concentrations near the pipe inlets fall. Meanwhile, ongoing volcanic activity means other parts of the lake are constantly being recharged (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0502274102).
http://www.biology.lsa.umich.edu/~gwk/research/nyos_pubs.htm
http://www.agu.org/inside/awards/bios/krajick_kevin.html
"On 21 August 1986, some 1800 villagers near the shores of Lake Nyos died in a mysterious mass asphyxiation. On 15 August 1984, a strangely similar incident, albeit on a smaller scale, had taken place at another crater lake, Monoun, about 60 miles south of Nyos.
I wonder at how many other locations around the globe such things might have happened?
Amicus….
Of all the natural disasters throughout the ages afflicting mankind, I never ever before heard of an exploding lake.
Apparently a large landslide tumbled into the lake, all the way to the bottom an opened an escape vent to a large amount of CO2, carbon dioxide gas and methane gas, that had naturally accumulated over time.
The end of the program stated that core samples of the lake bed proved that such ‘overturnings’ had happened before at usually about 1,000 year intervals over about a 5,000 year history.
CO2 is a heavier than air gas that replaces oxygen and is used in fire extinguishers. The explosion of the gas in the lake created a tidal wave of about 80 feet in height and the gas spread out over a nearby village and asphyxiated about 1800 people.
I had the thought that in the far distant past how difficult it might be for the indigenous people to explain such an event in real terms. The more I learn, the less I know about the origin of cultural myths and legends that may or may not possess items of truth.
Curious…
http://www.newscientist.com/channel/earth/mg18825195.100.html
Article Preview
Killer lakes in Cameroon may strike again
• 01 October 2005
•
• Magazine issue 2519
Unless urgent action is taken there may be a repeat of the tragedies of the 1980s when sudden releases of carbon dioxide killed thousands
EFFORTS to prevent the release of deadly clouds of gas from two African lakes appear to be failing. Some 1800 people died of asphyxiation during the 1980s when Lakes Nyos and Monoun in Cameroon suddenly released clouds of carbon dioxide over the surrounding countryside.
In an effort to vent the gas at a safe, controlled rate, a pipe was placed in Lake Nyos in 2001 and Lake Monoun in 2003. But the pipes are not working fast enough, says George Kling at the University of Michigan, whose team has analysed 12 years' worth of data on the lakes. Although the pipes are gradually reducing CO2 levels in the water, the rate is dropping as gas concentrations near the pipe inlets fall. Meanwhile, ongoing volcanic activity means other parts of the lake are constantly being recharged (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0502274102).
http://www.biology.lsa.umich.edu/~gwk/research/nyos_pubs.htm
http://www.agu.org/inside/awards/bios/krajick_kevin.html
"On 21 August 1986, some 1800 villagers near the shores of Lake Nyos died in a mysterious mass asphyxiation. On 15 August 1984, a strangely similar incident, albeit on a smaller scale, had taken place at another crater lake, Monoun, about 60 miles south of Nyos.
I wonder at how many other locations around the globe such things might have happened?
Amicus….
