Lake Kivu -(A Time Bomb or Source of Energy? )Is this the Gulf scenario?

[Are_grits_groceries]

Lake Kivu, one of Africa's Great Lakes, is showing measurable increases in methane gas deposits, potentially harming the fishing industry vital to the region's economy.


Growing up on the shores of Lake Kivu in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Kevin and his friends were often warned not to play in the water.

"My mother always asked us not to dip things like keys, rings or any metallic object in the lake," he said. "She said the metals would react with some gas and could result in an explosion."

Kevin may not have believed her at the time, but his mother's concerns echo something scientists have been studying for a number of years -
the levels of dissolved gases in the lake and whether they are a cause for concern.

Lake Kivu is one of Africa's Great Lakes, on the border of the DRC and Rwanda. It is a source of water, fish and sand for two million people and provides a vital link between the ports of Goma and Bukavu in DRC and Gisenyi, Kibuye and Cyangugu in Rwanda.
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Possible Dangers
Eawag's report also said the density and layers of the water function as a flexible lid, trapping gases from the Earth's mantle as well as gases generated in the sediments beneath the lake.

According to lake water experts, the Salmon Enhancement and Habitat Advisory Board (SEHAB), a potentially catastrophic event called a ‘limnic eruption' could occur if volcanic or landslide activity caused the lake waters to turn over and effectively lift this ‘lid'.

A cloud of released gases would smother all lakeside life. "The only two known and observed ‘limnic eruptions' are at Lake Monoun in Cameroon in 1984, killing 37 people; and more catastrophically in 1986, nearby Lake Nyos. At Lake Nyos, over 80 million cubic metres of carbon dioxide were released from the lake depths into the atmosphere," A 2006 SEHAB study states.
Gaseous Increase
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Lake Kivu, Lake Nyos and Lake Monoun are termed as "Africa's Killer Lakes" in a 2006 UN Environmental Programme (UNEP) report. It said Lake Kivu remains a cause for "serious concern" as approximately two million people live in the lake basin.

"A rift in the area is pulling apart and causing a crack to move closer to the bottom of the lake. Large amounts of boiling lava entering the lake could be more than sufficient to trigger a large overturn releasing huge amounts of deadly carbon dioxide," it said. "In addition, the lake contains a large quantity of methane that could also cause explosions above the lake
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http://www.globalenvision.org/library/1/1732

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Vast Deposits in Ocean Sediments

Professor Sum explained gas and oil flow up the pipe together in normal drilling operations. These hydrocarbons occur naturally together in conventional drilling operations. The deepwater of the Gulf of Mexico, and other places where methane hydrates exist, present drillers with special safety challenges.

For one thing, methane hydrates are believed to exist in vast deposits underneath the ocean floor, trapped by nature in ocean sediments. Deepwater drillers could find themselves drilling through these natural hydrate deposits.

Professor Sum said geologists know much less about these hydrate-bearing sediments than conventional ocean sediments, and that there is "little knowledge of the risks" of drilling into them.
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http://www.sott.net/articles/show/209220-Did-Deepwater-methane-hydrates-cause-the-BP-Gulf-explosion-
Another article: "Degassing Lake Nyos"
http://records.viu.ca/~earles/nyos-feb01.htm

Is there the possibility of a similar event?

This type of event is extremely rare. However, is this what has scared the bejesus out of them? Are they worried that there is now so much instability in the sediments and the gas that the odds of this occurrence have risen a great deal?
Are they considering or trying methods to avert the catastrophe from the gasses that might occur?

yes, I have tinfoil. However, this has caused some bizarre and to me inexplicable reactions in some quarters that I have been wondering what the hell else is going on.