A weird smell...

[Blazinator]

Now this has been a highly informative post. Is this related to the killer lakes of Cameroon in Africa, where a thermal overturn of the stratified layers in the lake caused a catastrophic release of gas that flowed down the valleys and killed all living creatures in the lower villages (lake was in a former volcano crater atop a mountain)?

 

[String]

Not quite, that IIRC was carbon dioxide.

There are lots of "dead" lakes and areas though. Im thinking of the black sea where at least half of it is dead like that. Can be caused where water of different salinity and/or temperature flow and mix, stay in layers thereby trapping gas above and below creative 2 effective ecosystems.
Also look up the gulf of mexico "dead zone".

Can also be caused by pollution where pesticides cause algae to grow that block out everything else and remove all the oxygen.

However its also the reason some wooden wrecks are near completely intact in some seas - no oxygen for the bacteria to survive so they dont eat the wrecks.

 

[Blazinator]

You nailed it - Google says Carbon dioxide buildup. The article also says that they installed a huge fountain to disperse the CO2 before it could build up again.

 

[Digger54]

Since the original poster got their question answered may I ask what other sorts of tastes or smells divers have noticed from time to time?

I've heard before that you can sense some things in the water, though mask and reg stay in place.

Alll I've ever experienced is the non-smell of good clean compressed air.

 

[DandyDon]

i asked the local dive shop attendant and she said i was going through menopause.

i've been diving for quite a while and have never experienced this. nor have i gone down this deep before.

any ideas?

So are you? I don't think that'd have anything to do with it tho? Thermal protection maybe with hot flashes, but then - I've never been thru menopause, don't know much really. But maybe she meant narcosis, which is possible for some at 80 ft.

You can encounter different things at depth, to be sure. In a lake with no current, sulfur is certainly possible.

Quite a lot of inland sites have anoxic layers which trap sulphur and give off Hydrogen Sulphide and other gases. Should be able to avoid by just getting out of that layer.

You do get them in the sea as well but thats mainly from vents and so on. Quite amusing to see it turn peoples jewellery black after swimming through it.

I always thot it odd to wear jewelry diving. Where have you swam thru sulfur vents?

I've seen sulfur layers in Mexican caves - or bacteria colonies actually, but they can be lovely reflecting purplish in the sun rays. If you google sulfur chemocline you'll find interesting reading.

Since the original poster got their question answered may I ask what other sorts of tastes or smells divers have noticed from time to time?

I've heard before that you can sense some things in the water, though mask and reg stay in place.

Alll I've ever experienced is the non-smell of good clean compressed air.

I never smelled or tasted anything in water, but then my smell & taste senses are not the best.

 

[Darcey]

I know that some lakes that were quarries at one time have sulfer issues that make your gear stink (thank you to the inventor of wetsuit wash) but have never heard of anyone "smelling" or "tasting" it while underwater nor have I experienced it myself. I'll have to pay more attention when I go diving in at Haigh quarry in a few weeks that has rumor of smelling like sulfer this time of year. If it does smell underwater...I may ralf through my reg...which would be highly unpleasant.

 

[Sinbad the Diver]

I remember that smell and taste well from my childhood. My grandparents had a well go dry and dug a new one....hit water with a high sulfer content. Used to hate showering there (smell got worse when the water got hot). I always found it was one of those smells/tastes that won't go away so I'm a little surprised your gear didn't hold the smell until you washed it (something you could have used to show Mr Menapaus what you were talking about).

 

[DandyDon]

I think that most lake sulfur comes from the plants that fall and wash into it. Sulfur is absorbed by plants via the roots from soil as the sulfate ion and reduced to sulfide - up to 6% of weight in some cases. See Sulfur assimilation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[String]

I always thot it odd to wear jewelry diving. Where have you swam thru sulfur vents?

Zakynthos, Greece. Peoples watches and rings tended to discolour.