Spotmydive
es
en
fr
Menu
  • Language
    • es
    • en
    • fr
  • Where to dive?
    • Diving destinations
    • Dive center
    • Diving cruise
    • Diving spots
    • Travel
    • Blog Trip
  • Equipment
  • Environment
    • Ecology
    • Health
  • Marine Life
  • Training
  • Unusual
    • Top 10
    • Culture
    • History
  • Contact
  • BEST DEALS
Ecology

The Environmental Impact of Sunken Shipwrecks

By spotmydive
2017-08-02
featured

Underwater wrecks get damaged fast

Our ocean is full of wrecks, thousands of shipwrecks sunk during the Second World War and today many many boat are still sinking by accident or intentionnaly to make great dive spots. All the divers love diving in wreck nevertheless the shipwrecks are a potential pollution source. Beneath the effect of water, the metal inevitably corrode itself, and loose a tenth of millimeters of thickness per year. Some super tanker boats, which contain around fifteen millions tons of oil, risk therefore, in short or long term, to liberate their contents. But for Michel l’Hour, pioneer of underwater archeologic, the oil isn’t the most dangerous components which it enclose. Some chemicals products such as yperite, mustard gas, are a lot more concerning through his eyes. In the water, this gas change itself into a sort of yellowish paste that the fish eat, and then finish in our stomach.

A submarine wreck concerning

A very concerning case is the one of the German underwater submarine wreck U-864 and its worrying cargo of mercury. This German submarine, torpedoed by the British the 9 of February 1945, at a few kilometers from the coast of a little Norwegian island, Fedje Island, was transporting 67 tons of mercury contained in steel bottle.
It’s just in February 2003 that we found it, cut in half and laying at 150 meters of deep. In 2005, we discover the steel leaked from one of the 1857 steel bottle, which opened beneath the effect of corrosion. The wreck is therefore examined, and we observe that the cylinders’ thickness have become thicker, in some places it measures no more than one millimeter and not the initial five millimeters.


Two solutions are explored to avoid a disaster :

  • – Rescue the submarine and take it out of the water
  • – To bury it under a sand sarcophagus, gravel and concrete, of 12 meters of thickness

In May 2014, the Norwegian government choose the second solution, but we will have to wait until 2016 for the works to begin. The wreck was covered by a 30,000 tons of sand, then by 160.000 tons of rocks. We just have to cross our fingers, and hoping that the sarcophagus will do his job.

subamrine wreck
author

spotmydive

About author
Spotmydive editors are all about delivering quality information to you.

Leave a comment

All comments

    Related posts
    Ecology

    What is magnet fishing ?

    By spotmydive
    2020-05-20

    Want to search the bottom of the water for “treasure”, but also to clean up the waterways? Magnet fishing is trendy and already invades the rivers of all countries. Magnet fishing, what is it? Magnet fishing involves throwing a neodymium magnet attached to a long rope into a waterhole: lake, river, marina … This activity […]

    Ecology

    Oysters to decontaminate the bay of New York

    By spotmydive
    2020-05-19

    New York Bay, where once life was abundant, is now known as a no-go zone because of its pollution. It is to remedy this problem that “The billion Oyster Project” was born in 2014. It plans to save the bay by using the filtering capacity of the oyster. An Amazing Creature Indeed, the adult oyster […]

    Ecology

    Change of color of the ocean, climate emergency

    By spotmydive
    2020-05-19

    By the end of the century, the mosaic of blues and greens of the oceans could change. This is revealed by a new study published in “Nature communications”. Why is the ocean changing color? Sunlight penetrates more than 180 meters below the surface of the ocean. Everything beyond that is plunged into darkness. On the […]

    Best deals

    • Popular

      Top 10

      10 amazing marine animal defense mechanisms

      By spotmydive
      2023-02-22
    • Latest posts

      • Travel

        Rent a boat in Europe to get away

        By Lukas Joseph
        2022-04-19
      • Dive Clubs

        Scuba Hunt :  A Fun Adventure & Bragging Rights for Days

        By Laura Wilkinson
        2022-02-23
    • Navigation

      • Travel
      • Environement
      • Equipment
      • Training
      • Contact
      • Who are we?
      • Terms of use
    • Newsletter

      Join the community! Subscribe to our newsletter


      logo

    © Spotmydive 2023 - News and Magazine on the underwater world