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Lake kivo holds 300 cubic kilometers of dissolved carbon dioxide and 60 cubic kilometers of methane laced with toxic hydrogen sulphide. The lake has the potential to explosively release these gases in a rare phenomenon known as alimnic eruption, that could send a huge pulse of heat trapping gases into the atmosphere. Such a disaster could fill the surrounding valley with suffocating andtoxic gas, potentially lling millions of people. It could create one of the worst, if not the worst, natural humanitarian disasters in history.

Lake Kivu, nestled between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda, is a geological anomaly that holds 300 cubic kilometres of dissolved carbon dioxide and 60 cubic kilometres of methane.

The lake has the potential to explosively release these gases, which could fill the surrounding valley, potentially killing millions of people.

Researchers are trying to establish the likelihood of such an event happening, and the best way to safely siphon the gases from the lake.

This is an audio version of our feature: How dangerous is Africa’s explosive Lake Kivu?

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