NDLI: Current status of the debate about the age of Lake Nyos dam (Cameroon) and its bearing on potential flood hazards

Content Provider	Springer Nature Link
Author	Aka, Festus Tongwa Yokoyama, Tetsuya
Copyright Year	2012
Abstract	Scientific visits to Lake Nyos in Northwestern Cameroon in the aftermath of the gas disaster that killed over 1,750 people in 1986 revealed the presence of a pyroclastic natural dam in the northern border of the lake. This dam is being affected by back erosion. Collapse of the dam could cause a flood that would affect inhabited areas over a 220 km distance. Timing of dam collapse has been hotly debated based on vastly different carbon-14 and potassium-argon formation ages. In previous work, we used uranium series disequilibria to suggest a formation age of >5,000 years. Detailed comparison of uranium series and trace element data for lavas of Lake Nyos and Mt. Cameroon, both belonging to the Cameroon Volcanic Line, suggests that Lake Nyos basalts erupted with an initial radium-226/thorium-230 ratio that is two times higher than lavas erupting on Mt. Cameroon today. This information is used to infer an age of 8,750 ± 490 years, which we suggest is the formation age of the Lake Nyos dam. The erosion rate deduced from this age does not indicate that collapse of the dam from back erosion alone and the attendant potential flood disaster are as eminent and alarming as previously thought. However, other factors militate for action to secure the dam. Work is underway to reinforce it by engineering methods.
Starting Page	875
Ending Page	885
Page Count	11
File Format	PDF
ISSN	0921030X
Journal	Natural Hazards
Volume Number	65
Issue Number	1
e-ISSN	15730840
Language	English
Publisher	Springer Netherlands
Publisher Date	2012-09-26
Publisher Place	Dordrecht
Access Restriction	One Nation One Subscription (ONOS)
Subject Keyword	Lake Nyos dam Mt. Cameroon Uranium series age Back erosion Dam collapse Dam reinforcement Geophysics/Geodesy Environmental Management Civil Engineering Natural Hazards Geotechnical Engineering & Applied Earth Sciences Hydrogeology
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article
Subject	Atmospheric Science Water Science and Technology

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