Scientists to study volatile Rwandan lake

ROCHESTER, N.Y., Nov. 19 (UPI) -- U.S. scientists have organized a research project to study dangers presented by Rwanda's Lake Kivu, which contains high levels of carbon dioxide and methane.

Scientists said they can't be certain the volatile mixture at the bottom of the lake will remain still as it has for 1,000 years or someday explode without warning. The region, prone to volcanic and seismic activity, is also home to approximately 2 million people, many of them refugees living along the north end of the lake.

The Rochester Institute of Technology, using a National Science Foundation grant, will fund the travel and lodging expenses for 18 U.S. scientists to attend a three-day January workshop in Gisenyi, Rwanda, to discuss the problem.

The conference is being organized by Associate Professor Anthony Vodacek and the Rwandan Ministry of Education, along with Cindy Ebinger, an expert in East African Rift tectonics at the University of Rochester, and Robert Hecky of the University of Minnesota-Duluth. Core samples Hecky obtain during the 1970s initially brought the safety of Lake Kivu under question.

"Most scientists are fairly in agreement that the lake is pretty stable. It's not as if it's going to come bursting out tomorrow," Vodacek said. "But in such a tectonically and volcanically active area, you can't tell what's going to happen."