News of the Baltic Sea

[JustJohn or JJ]

Underwater 'Fairy Rings' In Baltic Sea Caused By Poison, Biologists Say

LiveScience | By Megan Gannon Posted: 02/02/2014 10:38 am EST

They're not the work of World War II bombs or aliens or fairies. Instead, mysterious underwater rings spotted off the coast of Denmark are the result of poison, biologists say.


Striking rings of green eelgrass — some of them up to 49 feet (15 meters) wide — can occasionally be spotted in the clear Baltic water off the coast of Denmark's island of Møn. The formations were captured in tourist photos in 2008 and again in 2011, sparking the type of speculation that's usually reserved for crop circles.

But biologists Marianne Holmer from University of Southern Denmark and Jens Borum from University of Copenhagen assure that the circles have "nothing to do with either bomb craters or landing marks for aliens." [In Photos: Mysterious Crop Circles]

"Nor with fairies, who in the old days got the blame for similar phenomena on land, the fairy rings in lawns being a well known example," Holmer and Borum said in a statement today (Jan. 30).

The biologists concluded that the rings formed because of the radiating pattern in which the eelgrass grows — and dies when exposed to toxins. In the mud around the eelgrass, the scientists detected high levels of sulfide, a substance that's poisonous to eelgrass and can build up naturally in a chalky seabed like the one off Møn (or unnaturally when agricultural pollutants enter an ecosystem).

"Most mud gets washed away from the barren, chalky seabed, but like trees trap soil on an exposed hillside, eelgrass plants trap the mud," Holmer and Borum explained. "And therefore there will be a high concentration of sulfide-rich mud among the eelgrass plants."

Though it might resemble a type of seaweed, eelgrass is actually a flowering plant. And when it grows, it expands outward in all directions, creating circle-shaped colonies. While healthy adult eelgrass plants seem to be able to withstand the sulfide in their environment, the old plants at the heart of the colonies drop dead, the researchers said.

"The result is an exceptional circular shape, where only the rim of the circle survives — like fairy rings in a lawn," Holmer and Borum added.

Fairy rings in a lawn are typically blamed on the outward growth of fungi, but other fairy circles on land have long puzzled scientists. A famous example can be found in the desert grasslands of Namibia in southern Africa, where researchers have offered up a wide range of explanations for the vast field of circular patches, from ants and termites to gas seeps and resource competition.

The explanation for the eelgrass fair rings is detailed in this month's edition of the journal Marine Biology.

[Eric]

Unfortunately, the Baltic Sea is very heavily polluted. It's surrounded by major industrial cities which dump huge amounts of waste, usually untreated, into the sea. Since Eastern Europe generally has much larger industrial plants concentrated all in one place than in Western Europe, where smaller factories more widely spread out are common, the pollution increases the farther east in the sea one goes. Yes, it's sad to say, my beloved St. Petersburg is the biggest offender by far in terms of polluting the Baltic Sea.

[karl]

Also do I agree with Eric, although not familure with St. Petersburg, but familure with the problem of pollution in the Baltic. For this has been known for many years, but no solution to be found.

There are many sources in cause of such polution that effect both the water quality and emportantly, the marine life and fishing stocks. For many years it has been a marine rule to not conduct bilge pumping at sea, but to do this once ported. But, how to enforce such rules. For many do not wish to pay port cost of bilge discharge, but in this, electe to in this stead, simply dischage whilst at sea and forget it.

Because of the vastness of sea {Baltic} area, corrosive action of sea water and to an extent, the ability of the sea water to rejuvenant is clear and present. What is the stye in the eye is: over dumping and to an extent, non-control of various compounds and metals that are too stable to deteriate at an disirable rate to be neutrolized by sea water action.

With the food chain is the pick up into the tissues of food stock fish. These fish eat like cows grazing and what ever is in the water that the fish can not expell through normal wast disposal, stays in the flesh. And, when caught and eaten, we ingest what ever was retained in the fish flesh.

It is a problem not unlike over fishing which can be controled to an extent through enforcement and use of licenses.

The following url is in English for convenience. A bit long, but very complete and well done.

oceana.org/sites/default/files/reports/OCEANA_Baltic_report_2012_ENG.pdf

Karl

[kaima]

Now I regret tossing out my first answer in the rush to close the computer and get on with more pressing matters. I will reconstruct most of it here.

In addition to the comments offered by Eric and Karl, I will add that the Baltic is a large, shallow dead end. It has very little water running into it and virtually NO circulation of water or current to flush old water and pollutants out of it. It is a stagnant sea.

It seems to be a hopeless case, one in which pollution can only get worse. I do not believe anyone has any solutions to cleaning up or restoring the sea.

Dumping of ship waste is a world wide problem, a problem that impacts Alaska quite a bit, despite our active exposure to ocean currents, deep seas, and the limitless Pacific Ocean. In 2006 the people of Alaska passed an initiative to restrict when and where cruise ships can discharge their accumulations of toilet waste. With our Governor and Legislature firmly in the hands of monied corporations (oil being king today), in 2013 they repealed the law the people wrote and voted into force. So much for respecting the will of the people.

So the best of luck to the Balts, and the best of luck to Alaska wild salmon and other fisheries!

Kai

[Jaga]

I agree that Baltic is quite isolated reservoir, bit it still has some amber. Hopefully, the eelgrass will not kill all other life. It is interesting to see its resemblance to Namibia.

By the way, there were never too many fish in Baltic.

[JustJohn or JJ]

Swedish Divers Discover A “Stone Age Atlantis”: 11,000 Year Old Ancient Settlement Under The Baltic Sea Monday, February 24, 2014 Divers in Sweden have recently discovered a rare collection of Stone Age artifacts buried deep beneath the Baltic Sea. Archaeologists believe the relics were left by Swedish nomads 11,000 years ago and the discovery may be evidence of one of the oldest settlements ever found in the Nordic region. Read More:



Some of the relics are so well preserved, reports have dubbed the find ‘Sweden's Atlantis’ and suggested the settlement may have been swallowed whole by the sea in the same way as the mythical island in the Atlantic Ocean.



The artifacts were discovered by Professor Bjorn Nilsson from Soderton University, and a team from Lunds University, during an archaeological dive at Hano, off the coast of Skane County in Sweden. Buried 16 meters below the surface, Nilsson uncovered wood, flint tools, animal horns and ropes. Among the most notable items found include a harpoon carving made from an animal bone, and the bones of an ancient animal called aurochs. Aurochs are ancestors of modern-day cattle and lived through Europe before becoming extinct in the early 1600s. The last reported auroch died in Poland in 1627. This find is significant because it suggests a date for when these items would have been used. Many of the artifacts have been preserved because the diving location is rich in a sediment called gyttja.

THE MYSTERY OF ATLANTIS: A LARGE ISLAND SWALLOWED BY THE SEA Atlantis is the name for the large island or continent said to have been swallowed up by the Atlantic Ocean centuries ago. Tales of the mythical island first appeared in books by Greek philosopher Plato around 370BC. In all of his books, Plato used interesting stories to contextualize and explain his ideas about government and philosophy and it is thought the story of Atlantis formed part of this.



However, this has also lead to claims the stories were made up purely for effect. Despite this, many maps have previously featured Atlantis, including the Map of the New World by Sebastian Muller, 1540, pictured, that shows Atlantis Island in red at the bottom, labelled Nouus Orbis. Atlantis was written about again in 1882 by Ignatius Donnelly who claimed Atlantis was not only real, but influenced cultures including the Egyptians and Mayans. Studies of rock found at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean concluded that there has never been a large island buried in the region, and many people now think Plato may have got the location of the island wrong. Other claims suggest the island may have been near modern-day Santorini, off the coast of Greece. Black, gel-like Gyttja is formed when peat begins to decay. As the peat is buried, the amount of oxygen drops and it is thought this lack of oxygen prevented the organic artifacts from being lost. Nilsson told The Local 'Around 11,000 years ago there was a build-up in the area – a lagoon of sorts – and all the tree and bone pieces are preserved in it. 'If the settlement was on dry land we would only have the stone-based things, nothing organic.' The dive was part of a three-year excavation partially funded by the Swedish National Heritage Board. Archaeologists are continuing the dig, and are now particularly interested to see whether there is also an ancient burial site in the region.


The artifacts were discovered by Professor Bjorn Nilsson from Soderton University during an archaeological dive at Hano, off the coast of Skane County in Sweden, marked at A. The dive was part of a three-year excavation partially funded by the Swedish National Heritage Board.