Lake Kuk: Disaster expert warns deadly gas release could cause another tragedy

As per media reports, a sudden change on August 29, 2022 in the colour and smell of Lake Kuk, in north-west Cameroon, has caused anxiety and panic among the local residents. Fears are driven by an incident that happened in 1986 at Lake Nyos, just 10km away.

Lake Kuk, Lake Nyos and Lake Monoum incidents

• On 21 August 1986, Lake Nyos emitted lethal gases (mainly carbon dioxide) that suffocated 1,746 people and around 8,300 livestock.

• It wasn’t the first incident like this. Two years earlier, Lake Monoum, about 100km south-west of Lake Nyos, killed 37 people.

• According to scientists, carbon dioxide gas – released from the Earth’s mantle – had been accumulating at the bottom of the lake for centuries.

• A sudden disturbance of the lake’s waters due to a landslide resulted in a sudden release of around 1.24 million tonnes of carbon dioxide gas. It killed people, animals, insects and birds along its path in the valley before dispersing into the atmosphere where it became harmless.

• Both Kuk and Nyos are crater lakes located in a region of volcanic activity known as the Cameroon Volcanic Line. A lake that is formed in a volcanic crater or caldera, such as a maar; that may form in an impact crater caused by a meteorite or in an artificial explosion caused by humans—is termed as a Crater Lake.

• Other lakes around the world that pose a similar threat include Lake Kivu at the border of Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, Lake Ngozi in Tanzania and Lake Monticchio in Italy.

• Currently it’s believed that, of the 43 crater lakes on Cameroon’s Volcanic Line, 13 are deep and large enough to contain lethal quantities of gases.

• The factors that lead to the greatest risk include: high quantities of dissolved gases, held under high pressures, at great depths, in lakes with large volumes of water.

• After the Lake Nyos disaster, carbon dioxide detectors and warning systems were installed near Lakes Nyos and Monoum.