Changing temperatures in the lake during the winter could have brought stagnant water to the surface, thus asphyxiating entire schools of fish.

ECONOMIST: What killed Fossil Lake?

Its maker, a Dutch alchemist called Cornelius van Drebbel, is thought to have used a primitive oxygen-supply system, based on saltpetre, to prevent the crew from asphyxiating.

ECONOMIST: The science of survival

It was the opposite, an asphyxiating mutual dependency.

NEWYORKER: Practical Cat