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A German warship, the V-1302 John Mahn, was sunk successful 1942 and is presently leaking toxic chemic and dense metals successful the North Sea
Environment 18 October 2022The V-1302 John Mahn was wrecked successful the Belgian North Sea VLIZ
A 2nd satellite warfare shipwreck is leaking hazardous chemicals, including explosives and dense metals, into the North Sea, suggesting that different wartime wrecks whitethorn request to beryllium removed from the seabed.
The V-1302 John Mahn was a sportfishing trawler requisitioned by the German navy during the 2nd satellite warfare and sunk by UK bombers successful 1942. It has rested astatine 30 metres beneath oversea level successful the Belgian North Sea ever since.
Now, Josefien Van Landuyt astatine Ghent University successful Belgium and her colleagues person analysed samples taken from the boat’s alloy hull and the surrounding water level and recovered traces of arsenic, explosives and dense metals specified arsenic nickel and copper. The squad besides found (PAHs), a radical of chemicals that hap people successful fossil fuels.
“We recovered that the person you get to the ship, and particularly the person you get to the ember bunker, you spot that the attraction of PAHs goes up,” says Van Landuyt.
These chemicals are reshaping the microbiome successful the contiguous vicinity of the ship, she says, with known PAH-degrading microbes similar Rhodobacteraceae and Chromatiaceae recovered successful the samples with the highest contamination levels.
Van Landuyt says the contamination caused by the V-1302 John Mahn is comparatively minor, allowing the wreck to inactive enactment arsenic an artificial reef and nursery for fish.
But thousands of different wrecked ships and craft from the play could good beryllium leaking larger amounts of toxic materials into the North Sea, she warns. Little is known astir wherever they are connected the seabed oregon what they were carrying connected board.
“Some of these ships… were deed portion they were inactive packed afloat of munitions,” she says.
Van Landuyt’s enactment is portion of the North Sea Wrecks project, which is expected to marque a proposal aboriginal this twelvemonth astir whether wartime wrecks request to beryllium removed from the seabed to support marine life.
Without action, the wrecks could proceed polluting for decades, says Andrew Turner astatine the University of Plymouth, UK. “If it’s anti-fouling overgarment oregon electronics oregon ember PAHs, they are going to past a agelong time. The PAHs astatine the bottommost of the oversea volition instrumentality decades to degrade.”
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