Killer Lakes and Near Misses
I. Lake Biology
Big animals
Giardia – protozoan
Cryptosporidium – protozoan; example:
Milwaukee 1993
Cyanobacterial toxins – immediate death of
livestock; hepatotoxins are associated with
increased liver cancer rates in many areas with eutrophic drinking
water supplies
II. Lake Physics
Hot springs and geysers – example: Yellowstone
Seiches; supercharged surface seiche
June 26, 1954 – Lake
Michigan – 8 fishermen swept off a breakwater to their deaths when a
seiche sped
at >100 km/hr and caused a water surge of > 10 feet
Surface waves
Lake Okeechobee – waves
reached 15 feet on September 16, 1928, and caused major flooding.
Death toll was 1836, with 1879 injured (3rd deadliest natural disaster
in the US)
III. Lake Chemistry
Sinkholes
Acid mine lakes
Lake Nyos and Lake Manoun – Cameroon, Africa
1984, Lake Manoun, 37 people
killed
1986, Lake Nyos,
approximately 1800 people killed
CO2 poisoning
Remediation efforts
Lake Monsters
Trophic analysis of the number of Loch Ness
monsters that could exist in Loch Ness, Scotland
‘Champie’ in Lake Champlain
Lake Fiascoes
Lake Peigneur, Louisiana, 20 November 1980
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