Almost any armed conflict has negative consequences for the Earth’s ecological system. Their significance may differ depending on the types of weapons used and the area involved in the collision. Consider the most common factors influencing nature that take place during the war.
Emissions of harmful substances
During large-scale conflicts, various types of weapons are used that use chemical “stuffing”. The composition of shells, bombs and even hand grenades has consequences for wildlife. As a result of the explosion, a sharp release of harmful substances occurs in a specific area. When they get on plants and in the soil, the composition changes, growth is aggravated, destruction occurs.
Consequences of the explosions
Explosions of bombs and mines inevitably lead to a change in the relief, as well as the chemical composition of the soil at the site of the explosion. As a result, it often becomes impossible to reproduce certain types of plants and living beings in the territory adjacent to the explosion site.
The bombs also have a direct destructive effect on animals. They die from shrapnel and shock wave. Particularly destructive are explosions of ammunition in water bodies. In this case, all underwater inhabitants die within a radius of up to several tens of kilometers. This is due to the characteristics of the propagation of a sound wave in the water column.
Working with hazardous chemicals
A number of weapons, in particular heavy strategic missiles, use chemically aggressive propellants. It contains components that are poison to all living things. Military affairs is a specific, and sometimes extraordinary, area, often requiring deviations from environmental rules. This results in the release of chemicals into the soil and water bodies.
The spread of chemicals is not only carried out during real clashes. Numerous exercises conducted by the armed forces of various countries, in fact, imitate military operations with the use of military weapons. At the same time, the negative consequences for the Earth’s ecology come in full.
Destruction of hazardous industrial facilities
During clashes, devastating blows are often delivered to elements of the industrial infrastructure of the participants in the conflict. Among them may be workshops and facilities working with chemical or biologically active substances. A separate type are radioactive production and burial grounds. Their destruction leads to a sharp contamination of large areas with severe consequences for all living things.
Flooding of ships and transport disasters
Warships that have gone to the bottom in the course of hostilities pose a threat to the aquatic ecosystem. As a rule, weapons with chemical filling (for example, rocket fuel) and fuel of the ship itself are located on board. During the destruction of the ship, all these substances fall into the water.
Approximately the same thing happens on land during the collapse of trains, or the destruction of large columns of automotive equipment. A significant amount of engine oil, gasoline, diesel fuel, chemical raw materials can get into the soil and local water bodies. Vehicles left at the battlefield with unused elements of weapons (for example, shells) are dangerous even after many years. So, shells from the times of the Great Patriotic War are still periodically found in different regions of Eurasia. They have lain in the ground for more than 70 years, but are often in combat condition.
