Gas buildup in Lake Nyos,Cameroon: The recharge process and its consequences

The gases dissolved in Lake Nyos, Cameroon, were quantified recently (December 1989 and September 1990) by two independent techniques: in-situ measurements using a newly designed probe and laboratory analyses of samples collected in pre-evacuated stainless steel cylinders. The highest concentrations of CO₂ and CH₄ were 0.30 mol/kg and 1.7 mmol/kg, respectively, measured in cylinders collected 1 m above lake bottom. Probe measurements of in-situ gas pressure at three different stations showed that horizontal variations in total dissolved gas were negligible. Total dissolved-gas pressure near the lake bottom is 1.06 MPa (10.5 atm), 50% as high as the hydrostatic pressure of 2.1 MPa (21 atm). Comparing the CO₂ profile constructed from the 1990 data to one obtained in May 1987 shows that CO₂ concentrations have increased at depths to below 150 m. Based on these profiles, the average rate of CO₂ input to bottom waters was 2.6 × 10⁸ mol/a. Increased deep-water temperatures require an average heat flow of 0.32 MW into the hypolimnion over the same time period. The transport rates of CO₂, heat, and major ions into the hypolimnion suggest that a low-temperature reservoir of free CO₂ exists a short distance below lake bottom and that convective cycling of lake water through the sediments is involved in transporting the CO₂ into the lake from the underlying diatreme. Increased CH₄ concentrations at all depths below the oxycline and a high¹⁴C content (41% modern) in the CH₄ 4 m above lake bottom show that much of the CH₄ is biologically produced within the lake. The CH₄ production rate may vary with time, but if the CO₂ recharge rate remains constant, CO₂ saturation of the entire hypolimnion below 50 m depth would require ∼140a, given present-day concentrations.