29.11.

2022

The hydrosphere

Nyos Lake – case study of a natural disaster

Nyos Lake - a case study

www.wikipedia.pl
21st of August, 1986 at 1930

~1.700 inhabitants and most cattle were

fatally poisoned with CO2.

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Nyos Lake - a case study

The deaths of the local population and livestock occurred as

a result of the release of 240.000 tons (109 m3) of CO2. This
disaster was caused not only by the properties of CO2 but
above all by environmental conditions.

OCO

Nyos Lake - a case study

• It was a limnic eruption, which is a lake overturn, and a rare type of

natural disaster in which dissolved carbon dioxide suddenly erupts from
deep lake water, suffocating wildlife, livestock and humans.

• The turning over of the lake is a natural process and most lakes do this
at least twice a year but the reasons it was so deadly were:
- localization and lake structure
- lake stratification phenomenon
- gas solubility in the liquid phase
- gas properties

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Nyos Lake - a case study

Localization
• It is situated in Northwest
Cameroon, around 48 km
from the Nigerian border to
the north
• the most affected villages of
this disaster were Cha, Nyos
and Subum.

Nyos Lake - a case study

Localization
Nyos Lake is a volcanic lake
located in N-E Cameroon at 900 m
above sea level, on the slope of an
inactive volcano. It is a tank showing
vertical stratification associated with
both temperature and, what is more
important, also with the difference in
gas content
references :http://www.geo.arizona.edu

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Lake volume toward CO2 = 1.5 km3

Nyos lake
Area 1.48 km2

210 m

Canals degassing magma

V = 10 m3*min-1

MAGMA

Nyos Lake - a case study

Lake stratification

Stratification is caused by either a temperature difference (water

density) or the presence of gases or salt

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Nyos Lake - a case study

Lake stratification

Nyos Lake - a case study

Lake stratification

Meromictic lake

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Nyos Lake - a case study

Lake stratification
Meromictic lake
In Africa:
- Lake Nyos and Lake Monoun in Cameroon
- Lake Kivu in Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo
- Lake Tanganyika in Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the
Congo,
- Lake Malawi inTanzania and Zambia,

In Asia:
-Lake Shira in the Republic of Khakassia,
Russia
- Keracut Beach Lake, Malaysia
- Jellyfish Lake in Palau
- Zigetangcuo Lake in China
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Nyos Lake - a case study

Gas solublility in a liquid

Quantitatively, this process depends on the following

parameters:
• partial pressure of gas
• atmospheric conditions (ie temperature, pressure, air humidity,
wind speed and direction, insolation)
• solubility of gas in water
• ability of gas to react with hydrosphere components and water
molecules
• chemical composition of water

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Nyos Lake - a case study

Gas solublility in a liquid

Gas properties

Simple gas gas that react with water

N2, H2, O2, volatile organic acid and base anhydrides, e.g. N2O3, SO2,
NH3

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Nyos Lake - a case study

Gas solublility in a liquid

Environmnetal
condition

liquid temperature gas partial pressure

 solubility  solubility 

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Nyos Lake - a case study

Gas solublility in a liquid

The solubility of gases

decreases with increasing
temperature

Hydrogen bond

Covalent bond

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Nyos Lake - a case study

Gas solublility in a liquid

16
14
12
O2 w mg*dm-3

10
8
6
4
2
0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40

temperatura oC

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Nyos Lake - a case study

Gas solublility in a liquid

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Nyos Lake - a case study

Gas solublility in a liquid

The increase in the partial pressure of the gas over the liquid
results in a proportional increase in its solubility

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Nyos Lake - a case study

Gas solublility in a liquid

The partial pressure of a gas in a mixture is the pressure that

the gas would exert if it occupied the container by itself.

Question: Dinitrogen is app. 79 per cent of the atmosphere by

volume and dioxygen 22 per cent. At the prevailing pressure of
1 atmosphere, what would be the partial pressure of these two
gasses?

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Nyos Lake - a case study

Gas solublility in a liquid

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Nyos Lake - a case study

Gas solublility in a liquid

The last factor quantitatively influencing the gas

dissolution process is the properties of the liquid phase,
water.

 concentration of dissolved substances  gases solubility

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Nyos Lake - a case study

Gas solublility in a liquid

Rozpuszczalność ditlenu w temp 10oC0i ciśnieniu 1013 hPa w
Dioxygen solubility in 10 C and 1013 hPa
zależności od stopnia zasolenia wody

10,5

10

9,5

9
O2 [mg*dm -3]

8,5

7,5

6,5

6
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40

Salinity
zasolenie[g*dm -3]]
[g*dm -3 =%0

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Nyos Lake - a case study

Gas solublility in a liquid

Simple gas solubility is described by a Henry’s law relationship. For such

gases solubility depends on the partial pressure of the gas in the bulk
atmosphere and gas solubility constant. In its fundamental form, it is
written as:

[G ]aq  K H * p g

where:
KH –Henry’s constant for particular temperature in mol*dm-3*Pa-1
pg- partial pressure of the gas in Pa
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Nyos Lake - a case study

Gas solublility in a liquid

Task 1: Calculate the dioxygen solubility in water. The reaction occurs in
condition as follows: atmospheric pressure 101325 Pa, vapour pressure
23.33 hPa, KH – 1.3 × 10-8 mol*dm-3*Pa-1. Dioxygen content in dry air is
21%. Give the result in mg*dm-3

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Nyos Lake - a case study

Gas solublility in a liquid

Task 2: Calculate the solubility of benzene C6H6 in gdm-3, if the partial
pressure of this compound at the temperature of 25oC was 12700 Pa and
Henry's constant was 1.79 × 10-6 moldm-3Pa-1.

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Nyos Lake - a case study

As CO2, is a gas that reacts with both water molecules and

dissolved components, its solubility is higher than could be expected
according to Henry’s law

a b c d

CO2 (g)  CO2 (aq)  H2CO3 (aq)  HCO3- (aq)  CO32- (aq)

a = KH – 3.3∙10-7 mol ∙(dm-3)-1 ∙Pa-1

b= Kr - 2 ∙10-3
CO 2 aq  K H * p CO 2
c= Ka1 – 2.25 ∙10-4
d = Ka2 – 4.7 ∙10-11

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Nyos Lake - a case study

Gas solublility in a liquid

In calculating the solubility of gases reacting with water, the

reactions of these gases with water molecules and substances
present in it should be taken into account

𝑪𝑶𝟐𝒂𝒒+𝑯𝟐𝑶 𝑯𝟐𝑪𝑶𝟑

𝑯𝟐𝑪𝑶𝟑+𝑯𝟐𝑶  H3O+ + HCO3-

𝑪𝑶𝟐𝒂𝒒+𝟐𝑯𝟐𝑶 H3O+ + HCO3-

HCO3-  H3O+ + CO32-

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Nyos Lake - a case study

Gas solublility in a liquid

Task 3: Calculate the solubility of carbon dioxide taking into account its
reaction with the water molecule, under the conditions of the atmospheric
pressure of 103000 Pa, water vapor pressure 23.33 hPa. Take the CO2
concentration in the atmosphere to be 400 ppmv in your calculations. The
reaction constants are as follows:
KH - 3.3 * 10-7 mol * dm-3 * Pa-1; Kr - 2 * 10-3;

Ka1 '- 4.5 * 10-7; Ka2 - 4.7 * 10-11

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Nyos Lake - a case study

Task 3: Calculate the solubility of carbon dioxide taking into account its reaction with the water
molecule, under the conditions of the atmospheric pressure of 103000 Pa, water vapor pressure
23.33 hPa. Take the CO2 concentration in the atmosphere to be 400 ppmv in your calculations.
The reaction constants are as follows:

KH - 3.3 * 10-7 mol * dm-3 * Pa-1; Kr - 2 * 10-3;

Ka1 '- 4.5 * 10-7; Ka2 - 4.7 * 10-11

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Nyos Lake - a case study

The bottom of the lake is
cold, under high pressure;
water there can hold a high
concentration of CO2 in
Area 1.48 km2 solution

210 m saturation
depth [m]

curve

actual curve

MAGMA
[CO2]aq=40+2.9*h
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Nyos Lake - a case study

Gas properties - CO2

Carbon dioxide is 1.5 times heavier than air. This fact caused the
gas released from the reservoir to float down the mountain side
into the valley causing suffocation of about two thousand people.

CO2 is produced 80.5 km below ground level by molten rock

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Nyos Lake - a case study

1. A 100 m high fountain of water

and foam formed at the Surface
of the lake. The huge amount of
water rising suddenly caused a
wave of at least 25m
2. A large cloud of CO2 was then
emitted from the lake
3. This travelled down the side of
the hill and into nearby villages

4Fe(HCO 3 ) 2 aq  O 2  2H 2 O  4Fe(OH) 3  8CO 2

www.bbc.co.uk
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OneCOor2 bubbles
One or more more COform
2 bubbles
at theform at the
bottom of bottom
the lakeofasthe lake - of
a result
disturbance (such as something falling into the lake).
spontaneously (on some surface at the bottom). As they rise, they pull
other bubbles with them, soon causing a sudden turnover of the lake.

warm water.
low density

cold water.
higher density

Water from the bottom, with high concentrations of CO2, is now under much lower
pressure, and the CO2 now bubbles out suddenly and violently. 33

Nyos Lake - a case study

• After the disaster, scientists started to think of ways to first degas

the lake and then how to avert future disasters
• An idea of putting in pipes to control the amount of CO2 released
was proposed
• The degassing installation at the beginning was controlled by
scientists and later became self-sustaining.

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At some point, the gas is released

from the solution and escapes up at
supersonic speed, which looks like a
geyser on the surface.

Each of them has a

pump that lifts water
with dissolved carbon
dioxide

These geysers shoot

water 50 m up; gas
pressure is 15 bar,
three times more than
in a bottle of
champagne
www.bbc.co.uk 35

NYOS-MONOUN DEGASSING PROJECT

January 2001 Lake Nyos Pipe Installation
Cameroonian-French-Japanese-USA Team

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Nyos Lake - a case study

Lake Nyos is not the only reservoir with such a problem. In

addition to this lake, a similar monitoring and degasification
project is being carried out in Monoun Lake (Cameroon). There
are also concerns about the Black Sea, which also exhibits
vertical stratification (salinity at the bottom of 22.5% and surface
18.3%) where hypolimnion results in H2S synthesis due to lack of
O2.

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Thank you for your attention

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