{"id":10497,"date":"2022-10-21T12:33:54","date_gmt":"2022-10-21T12:33:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/wwii-shipwreck-still-polluting-north-seas-ocean-floor-more-than-80-years-later"},"modified":"2022-10-21T12:38:03","modified_gmt":"2022-10-21T12:38:03","slug":"wwii-shipwreck-still-polluting-north-seas-ocean-floor-more-than-80-years-later","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/wwii-shipwreck-still-polluting-north-seas-ocean-floor-more-than-80-years-later","title":{"rendered":"WWII Shipwreck Still Polluting North Sea\u2019s Ocean Floor More Than 80 Years Later"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Sierra-Leone. <\/strong><\/span>The North Sea lies within Europe\u2019s northwest continental shelf and borders some of the strongest economies on the continent. During the world wars, over 250 ships loaded with cargo sank in the Belgian part of the North Sea. These wrecks contain substances that, if released, could harm the marine environment.<\/p>\n

Scientists recently discovered that the wreck of the V-1302 John Mahn, a German fishing trawler requisitioned by the German Navy as a patrol boat during World War II, is still leaking toxic chemicals into the North Sea, according to an article published in Frontiers in Marine Science.<\/p>\n

Historical records show the ship was patrolling the Belgian coast on February 12, 1942, when it was sighted by six British Royal Air Force fighter aircrafts. Two aerial bombs struck and sunk the ship, claming the lives of 11 sailors and carrying its cargo to the seabed, where its munitions and coal reserves have been slowly leaching away into the surrounding ecosphere.<\/p>\n

The researchers took samples from around the John Mahn at intervals of increasing distance away from the wreck in various directions to see how far the pollution stretched. In their findings, they noted that the ship was still seeping toxic chemicals called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, or PAHs, which are often associated with the burning of coal, oil, gas and tobacco. Scientists consider several kinds of PAHs to be cancer-causing.<\/b><\/p>\n

The scientists also noted that the presence of the PAHs meant that the wreck is still influencing the chemical makeup and microbiome ecology of the ocean floor in its radius. The highest concentrations of chemicals, including PAHs and arsenic, were found closest to where the ship\u2019s coal bunker and munitions deck would have been located, indicating the remnants of a \u201cstrong historic contamination or a continuous slow leaching.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, some of the chemicals that were found on or near the wreck, like naphthalene, which is also toxic in large amounts, have shorter half lives, suggesting that the ship\u2019s contents are still leaching into its environs, even nearly a century later. Part of this can be attributed to the fact that as ships age, their metal corrodes, exposing the contents of spaces that may have been previously enclosed.<\/b><\/p>\n

The North Sea Wrecks group, which worked with the researchers, is dedicated to investigating these sites and to educating the public about the dangers of hazardous war remnants, which have been shown to cause damage to marine life, impacting growth, reproduction, feeding and tissues of marine organisms.<\/p>\n

Across the world\u2019s oceans, shipwrecks from both world wars contain between 2.5 million and 20.4 million metric tons of petroleum products.<\/b><\/p>\n

The research will help scientists develop decision-making tools to assess the potential environmental impacts of other wartime shipwrecks, with the goal of creating a safer marine environment.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Sierra-Leone<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Sierra-Leone. The North Sea lies within Europe\u2019s northwest continental shelf and borders some of the strongest economies on the continent. During the world wars, over 250 ships loaded with cargo sank in the Belgian part of the North Sea. These wrecks contain substances that, if released, could harm the marine environment. Scientists recently […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":10496,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,9],"tags":[291,293,292],"class_list":["post-10497","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-miscellaneous","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-sierra-leone","tag-sierra-leone"],"yoast_head":"\nWWII Shipwreck Still Polluting North Sea\u2019s Ocean Floor More Than 80 Years Later - Sierra Leone<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The North Sea lies within Europe\u2019s northwest continental shelf and borders some of the strongest economies on the contin ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/wwii-shipwreck-still-polluting-north-seas-ocean-floor-more-than-80-years-later\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"WWII Shipwreck Still Polluting North Sea\u2019s Ocean Floor More Than 80 Years Later\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The North Sea lies within Europe\u2019s northwest continental shelf and borders some of the strongest economies on the contin ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/wwii-shipwreck-still-polluting-north-seas-ocean-floor-more-than-80-years-later\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sierra Leone\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-10-21T12:33:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-10-21T12:38:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/sites\/16\/2022\/10\/postQueueImg_1-6352928ec8a08.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1079\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/wwii-shipwreck-still-polluting-north-seas-ocean-floor-more-than-80-years-later#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/wwii-shipwreck-still-polluting-north-seas-ocean-floor-more-than-80-years-later\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"WWII Shipwreck Still Polluting North Sea\u2019s Ocean Floor More Than 80 Years Later\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-10-21T12:33:54+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-10-21T12:38:03+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/wwii-shipwreck-still-polluting-north-seas-ocean-floor-more-than-80-years-later\"},\"wordCount\":483,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/wwii-shipwreck-still-polluting-north-seas-ocean-floor-more-than-80-years-later#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/sites\/16\/2022\/10\/postQueueImg_1-6352928ec8a08.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Sierra-Leone\",\"Sierra-Leone\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"miscellaneous\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/wwii-shipwreck-still-polluting-north-seas-ocean-floor-more-than-80-years-later#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/wwii-shipwreck-still-polluting-north-seas-ocean-floor-more-than-80-years-later\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/wwii-shipwreck-still-polluting-north-seas-ocean-floor-more-than-80-years-later\",\"name\":\"WWII Shipwreck Still Polluting North Sea\u2019s Ocean Floor More Than 80 Years Later - 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