It was on this day in 1986 that Lake Nyos in Cameroon made like a giant soda can that's been shaken and released a bubbling 330ft fountain from the depths. The tsunami flattened trees along the shore and the carbon dioxide given off by this fountain rolled down the nearby valleys in silent invisible clouds and killed some 1,700 locals.
If you have a nearby lake, you probably don't need to worry about being stuffed into Ma Nature's dry cleaning bag, unless it's a deep lake, and you're in a volcanically active region in the tropics.
One more time: "Ma Nature is always trying to kill you."
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of which: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEPNYRD09es&feature=player_embedded
ReplyDeleteAlso from magma degassing by Nyiragongo, which is also charging Lake Kivu.
You can't say that nature does not spend some time in creative ways to kill ya.
ReplyDeleteNature is always trying to kill us. Its just that over the years we've gotten better at fending her off, so she's had to get more creative in order to succeed.
ReplyDeleteAbove link hottenated: Mazuku - Deadly CO2 pockets - YouTube
ReplyDeleteNot much happening up on the Calaveras Fault-line lately. They did dam it and create a reservoir just in case Ma Naturale has a hankerin' to go soda-dippin' - and in the last big drought they did finally find out what happened to Cliff Gillman and Bob Louviere...
ReplyDeleteFascinating! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVMcSvG5Mpg
ReplyDeleteEngineer's motto:
ReplyDelete"The Universe hates and is trying to kill you. Do not let it."
Geodkyt
Lake Bhopal.
ReplyDeletei remember this news report. a team flew in by helicopter the next day after the gas cloud had dissapated. they said it was earily quiet with no bugs or frogs or birds. everything had been killed in the area.
ReplyDeleteThere's a joke about Diet Coke and Mentos in there somewhere.
ReplyDeletePax, thank you; I'll be watching that whole piece when I have time. And I'm no so tired my eyes are crossing
ReplyDeleteI always wondered why the locals settled in that area. Surely local lore would have remembered that you don't put up a tipi in the shadow of the ghost lake..... I somehow doubt that 1986 was the first time that the soda fountain fizzed.
ReplyDelete