Page 30 - How It Works - Book Of Amazing Answers To Curious Questions, Volume 05-15

The patterns in

the ice are bubbles of
methane, a highly

flammable gas

Why is Lake

Abraham flammable?

What forms the explosive bubbles trapped beneath these frozen waters?

t may look spectacular, but this frozen lake The methane is produced by bacteria that in the Earth’s atmosphere to cause global
should be approached with caution, feeds on organic matter like leaves and dead warming. This is also creating a vicious cycle. As
Iparticularly if you’re holding a lit match. The animals that have fallen into the lake. Because warmer temperatures cause more of the frozen
incredible white patterns visible within the ice the man-made lake bed was covered in trees, ground around the lake to thaw and collapse,
are actually bubbles of methane, which is a grass and plants before it was flooded in 1972, it more trees fall into the water. This increase in
highly flammable gas. also contains much more organic matter than organic matter leads to more methane
As the lake melts in spring, these bubbles are any natural lake would. This means there is production. This methane released by Lake
able to reach the surface, where they pop, more for the bacteria to feast on, which causes Abraham alone won’t have much of an effect, but
allowing the methane to escape. Some brave them to produce a larger amount of methane. there are thousands of other bodies of water
scientists have even tested the presence of this Although the lake is great for putting on around the Arctic producing it too. Scientists
gas by poking holes in the ice and holding a amazing fire shows, it is not so good for climate estimate that more than ten times the amount of
lighter over the surface, sending huge flames into change. Methane is a greenhouse gas 25 times methane currently in the Earth’s atmosphere
the air. more potent than carbon dioxide, trapping heat will come out of these lakes in the near future.

30 How It Works