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- Title
Influence of chemical weapons and warfare agents on the metal contents in sediments in the Bornholm Basin, the Baltic Sea.
- Authors
Emelyanov, Emelyan; Kravtsov, Victor; Savin, Yuri; Paka, Vadim; Khalikov, Ildus
- Abstract
Large quantities of German trophy chemical weapons (CW) were dumped after World War II in the Bornholm Deep of the Baltic Sea. Four ships wrecks were found on the bottom of the central part of the Bornholm Deep at depths of 90-100m. The bottom of the deep is covered by mud with thickness of 1-3 m. The heavy metal contents (iron, manganese, zinc, copper, cobalt, nickel, chromium, cadmium, lead) and arsenic in the bottom sediments of chemical weapons dumpsite area were investigated with 378 samples in order to develop new data assessing the influence of chemical weapons on the environment. The data obtained indicate that an increased concentration of arsenic (111-277 mg/kg) in the mud of the dumpsite area is related to the chemical warfare agents, where the corrosion processes of chemical munitions and leakage of arsenic-containing agents are happening. The arsenic contamination is of local character and is not regarded hazardous for the environment. In most of the sediment samples outside the chemical weapons dumping area the contents of all the studied elements are in levels of background concentrations. Seven maps of the distribution of the toxic metals in the bottom sediments of Bornholm Basin were compiled. The contents of the studied heavy metals decrease in the direction away from the chemical weapons dumpsite area to the border of the Bornholm Deep. Although the release of warfare gases from dumped chemical weapons has persisted for many decades, the specific pollution of sediments is found to be rather small. The prognosis for further degradation from chemical weapons should exclude catastrophic scenarios.
- Subjects
BORNHOLMSGAT (Sweden); SWEDEN; CHEMICAL weapons; CHEMICAL warfare; SEDIMENTS
- Publication
Baltica, 2010, Vol 23, Issue 2, p77
- ISSN
0067-3064
- Publication type
Article