They were a true blast from the past.
Marine researchers announced Friday that World War II-era munitions, such as anti-submarine weapons and smoke devices, were discovered in underwater landfills off the coast of Los Angeles.
The munitions were first found through a survey of the areas by deep-sea vehicles with sonar and onboard video cameras in April, the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego, explained by email. who directed the study.
The region was known as a government-approved industrial and chemical waste dump from the 1930s until 1972, when the Marine Protection, Research and Sanctuaries Act, also known as the Ocean Dumping Act, was enacted.
In 2021, Scripps sonar using underwater drones located more than 25,000 “barrel-like objects” on the sea floor off the coast of Southern California, near Catalina Island.
The objects may have contained DDT, an insecticide banned in 1972, and other toxic chemicals, which were found in marine mammals in the region and have been linked to cancer in sea lions.
A Navy review will determine “the best path forward to ensure the risk to human health and the environment is appropriately managed,” the military branch said.
With post cables
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Source: vtt.edu.vn