Nyos valley north of Lake Nyos. The post-eruption photo shown here, however, is composed of murky reddish brown water which apparently formed by the oxidation of iron-rich bottom waters that were carried up to shallower lake levels during the August 1986 event. Many volcanoes are localized along these faults. In February of 1987, a team of multi-disciplinary researchers spent fifteen days assessing the socio-economic impact of the Lake Nyos disaster , and the subsequent forceful evacuation of surviving inhabitants of the region by the Camaroon authorities.The result revealed over 3,000 farmers and cattle rearers hoping to resettle Nyos and Cha. Lake Nyos sits high in a volcanic plain amidst the Cameroon line of volcanoes, which stretches into the Gulf of Guinea. Lake Nyos, Cameron blew up and caused the most unusual natural disaster in 1986 due to the buildup of carbon dioxide at the lake's bottom. Lake Nyos is one of three eruptive features in the immediate area. The waters of Lake Nyos, Cameroon, turned a murky brown following a deadly release of toxic gas in August 1986. "That would be a disaster in its own right," says Evans. The Lake Nyos Disaster The disaster took place at Lake Nyos … Panoramic view of Lake Nyos after the disaster. They talked about bombing the lakes to blow out the gas. The chain acts as a natural boundary between Nigeria and Cameroon. Some survivors awoke hours after falling unconscious. Beneath the lake is a pocket of magma which causes the carbon dioxide to mix with water and change it to carbonic acid. The Nyos disaster in Cameroon was the second CO2 explosion disaster in history, killing about 1,800 people and killing 3,500 animals. The water in Lake Nyos is normally a beautiful, deep-blue color. Aftermath of the Lake Nyos Tragedy . Although the Lake Nyos crater may be the oldest of these eruptive features, it is still very young. 2). The others are prominent basaltic cinder cones located 1 km to the NE and 2 km to the south (fig. USGS Lake Nyos is located along the Cameroon Volcanic Line (CVL), a 950-mile long chain of volcanoes and … Economic Impact of the Lake Nyos Disaster', and was conducted in February 1987 by a team of eight re-searchers who spent fifteen days in the Nyos area and administered a multi-disciplinary questionnaire to a ran-dom 5% sample of survivors. About Lake Nyos. It is unknown what the trigger was—it may have been a landslide, small … Lake Nyos was a time bomb. On Aug. 21, 1986, something in the lake went off. In August 1986, approximately 1800 people living in a 15-mile radius of Lake Nyos in Cameroon didn’t live to see the morning, dying by suffocation from toxic gas exhaled from the bottom of the lake. Lake Nyos is a volcanic lake in the northwestern region of Cameroon, situated some 196 miles northwest of the capital Yaoundé. The lake is situated on the flank of an inactive Oku volcanic plain. After Lake Nyos burst, an international team began discussing ways to degas both lakes and avert future disasters. The lake itself fills a circular maar, formed when groundwater meets hot lava or magma and explodes. They reported they heard a strange and loud noise but when they awoke, they were in complete silence, without even insects buzzing around. Lake Nyos is one such lake located on the high flanks of an inactive volcano, surrounded by lively villages. According to scientists, in this explosion Lake Nyos has released about 1 km3 of CO2 enough to fill 10 football fields. But scientists worried a bomb would also blow out one of Lake Nyos's walls, causing an enormous flood. Villages within a 25 km radius around Lake Nyos were all wiped out in an instant. 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