WATER INTO BLOOD? In 1986 an eruption of gases beneath Lake Nyos, Cameroon, caused dissolved iron particles in the lake to mix with oxygen and form iron hydroxide (rust), which turned the water a reddish color. Producer Jacobovici uses this phenomenon and its after-effects to explain how several of the Biblical plagues—the Nile turning into “blood” (Exodus 7:14–24), the infestation of frogs (Exodus 8:1–15) and the outbreak of boils (Exodus 9:8–12), among others—occurred as a result of earthquakes that also caused the eruption at Thera. However, our author argues that gases could not have seeped into the Nile Delta as they did at Lake Nyos. He explains that the delta is composed of layers of sand and compact silt over a kilometer thick that would have prevented subterranean gases from leaking into the sediments and the water in any significant quantity. Moreover, the Bible says the water turned into blood, not just into reddish water.