快猫短视频

Unidentified packages that appeared along the Brazilian coast in 2018 have been confirmed as bales of natural rubber coming from a German shipwreck from the second world war.

Throughout 2018, around 200 square packages washed up along 1600 kilometres of the Brazilian coastline from the states of Maranh茫o to Sergipe. Each weighed up to 200 kilograms and they ranged in size from 0.06 to 3.4 cubic metres. They caused considerable public concern as people were unsure what they were made of and where they came from.

Now, at the Federal University of Cear谩 in Brazil and his colleagues have identified the packages as part of the SS Rio Grande, a German ship that sank in 1944 and was discovered 1000 kilometres from the Brazilian coast in 1996. These ships commonly carried cargo, such as natural rubber, between allies and colonies.

鈥淭he SS Rio Grande was the deepest shipwreck ever for 25 years,鈥� says Teixeira. It was found at 5762 metres deep.

First, the researchers chemically analysed four of the packages to confirm they were made of natural rubber. Some of them had stamps on them, describing their packaging material and manufacturing place. Using this information and previous literature about nearby shipwrecks, Teixeira and his team identified that the bales could have come from two possible shipwrecks: the SS Burgenland, which also sank in 1944, or the SS Rio Grande.

Then they tracked the movement of the packages using a model to simulate their dispersion in the ocean. 鈥淥ur computer models essentially forecast the ocean currents,鈥� says Teixeira.

The researchers simulated the release of virtual bales within a 10-kilometre radius of the two shipwrecks. Their model showed that the packages would reach the Brazilian coastline within three months in the same region where the real rubber bales were found if they were coming from SS Rio Grande. SS Burgenland is unlikely to be the culprit as the ocean currents would carry the rubber packages much further west.

One of the bales was stamped with 鈥淧roduct of French Indochina鈥�. The French colonial territories of south-east Asia at this time 鈥� made up of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia 鈥� were well-adapted to the growth of rubber trees and were large producers during the second world war, says Teixeira.

The team is unsure why the ship was releasing these packages so frequently in 2018. There may have been disruption to the wreck, which allowed debris to escape.

Sign up for a weekly newsletter of 快猫短视频鈥檚 best content for Americans