Lake Nyos is the most renowned of the numerous maars and basaltic cinder cones associated with the deeply dissected Mount Oku massif. The 1.2 x 1.9 km wide lake, seen here from the south, was the site of a gas-release event on 21 August 1986 that caused at least 1,700 fatalities. Wave damage stripped the peninsula at the left of vegetation. The emission of around 1 km³ of magmatic carbon dioxide has been attributed to either non-volcanic overturn of stratified lake waters, to phreatic explosions, or to injection of hot gas into the lake.

Photo by Jack Lockwood, 1986 (U.S. Geological Survey).

Copyrighted image used with permission. All Rights Reserved. Contact photographer for any usage requests.

Galleries: Craters

Keywords: crater | crater lake

Oku Volcanic Field