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I saw an old special about this yesterday and fell in love with the fact that nature will never run out of ways to whip our asses. I made this thread because not many people know about lake overturn, let alone talk about it. Have any of you heard of this natural disaster? Or the possibility of overturn at Lake Kivu? Edit: I guess it would help to explain it.  Basically Lake Overturn occurs when a lake contains high concentrations of CO 2, released by a trigger. It's alot like opening a bottle of soda. If you could slow down the process, you'd see a plume of gas escape the top of the bottle followed by the rising of the bubbles. In the case of a lake, the upset can be caused by anything large enough and heavy enough to pentrate the layers of CO 2 at the bottom. For Lake Nyos (home to 1800), the trigger was a landslide. As the rocks pentrated the first layer of carbon-dioxide, gases were released and forced upward. With such a high concentration, all these gases formed a cloud that covered 18 square-miles before dissipating. This cloud, being heavier than our own breathable air, worked it's way toward the ground while pushing any available oxygen above it. This event alone killed off 99% of the population at Nyos. But, this is only the first step in the process. Next the rocks penetrate the bottom layer of the lake, where CO 2 concentration is at it's highest. This tremendous release in pressure blows the water sky-high, soon followed (in the case of Nyos) by a wave believed to be over 80 ft. sweeping in-land; dragging trees and sediment back into the lake. There's actually a picture of the aftermath on Wikipedia.Now, here's the interesting part, Lake Kivu is 2000 times larger than Lake Nyos, and with a population of 2,000,000. And here's where it gets really bad, Kivu sits right next to an active volcano. A volcano that's rocked the ground so much it's actually created a fault, soon to feed lava directly into the lake...and it gets even worse, Kivu is also home to high concentrations of methane, meaning explosions.
Last Edit: Feb 19, 2007 15:24:39 GMT by Aaron
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Yeah, I believe this happened somewhere in Africa in the 80's and some scientists/archealogists/theologins believe this may account for some of the plagues in the Bible such as the lake turning red (excessive amounts of carbon) and first born children dying (first borns were given extra privelages such as sleeping on Egyptian beds which were close to the ground rather than on roofs and wagons, hence the reason for their deaths (poisonous gas heavier than air) but no one elses').
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Yeah, I believe both Lake Nyos and Lake Munoun (pardon my spelling) erupted in the '80s. I am surprised to hear of it's possible ties to the bible...makes the whole event that much more interesting.
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I've just read about this sometime ago I can't quite remember. Where exactly is this Lake Kivu?
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Somewhere in Africa. You'd have to google it.
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Yeah, I believe both Lake Nyos and Lake Munoun (pardon my spelling) erupted in the '80s. I am surprised to hear of it's possible ties to the bible...makes the whole event that much more interesting. Yeah, about two or three events can account for all of the plagues. I know the lake overturn and a volcanic erruption are two of them.
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That'd be weird, if Kivu overturned. Kivu is a pretty neat, and seemingly beautiful lake in an area that really deserves at least ONE thing nice (Rwanda, home of a genocide not so long ago on the history timeline). I'd hate to see it erupt.
Honestly, I knew very little originally about lake overturns, but the idea is fascinating. Though all of the people who could have potentially seen it are dead at Nyos, I'd love to be able to know what it would look like.
Nature never ceases to amaze.
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Though all of the people who could have potentially seen it are dead at Nyos, I'd love to be able to know what it would look like. 99% died. Some DID live to witness the overturn in it's final stage (when the rocks penetrated the bottom layer). They reported hearing a deafening bang followed by a tower of white. "This tremendous release in pressure blows the water sky-high, soon followed (in the case of Nyos) by a wave believed to be over 80 ft. sweeping in-land; dragging trees and sediment back into the lake."
Last Edit: Feb 25, 2007 14:21:51 GMT by Aaron
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