Develop solutions to identify areas of landmines based on trees

After the war, the review of leftover minefields is a very dangerous and time-consuming task. But this activity will become easier as the team at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU - USA) is developing a method to identify plants damaged by chemical leakage from explosives, helping Quick identification of land areas with mines and ERW.

According to the science news website Live Science, this research funded by the US military began a few years ago with the goal of finding a new solution to discover explosives buried underground. The team began with trees that were not as good as they could absorb chemicals from the soil during growth. They found that the trees growing above the leaked soil had signs of poisoning, such as the appearance of brown spots on the leaves or many twisted leaves. Experts say that although explosives only leak a small amount, over time, this process will gradually create a deadly source of poison.

A tree branch damaged due to exposure to the composition of explosives.

In order to expand the ability to identify areas of landmines in larger areas, the team investigated evidence of the death of explosive plants in a minefield in South Carolina, in the Department. Advanced defense project research (DARPA) of the US buried false mines to serve a project of their research. The minefield is divided into several areas including a chemical-free control area, TNT explosive area, RDX and a mixed chemical area. The team found that when the soil contains chemicals from explosives, grass plants are easier to die than woody plants.

In another study, VCU experts analyzed data from remote sensors attached to satellites or airplanes. These are tools that can help detect the impact of explosives on large-scale plant ecosystems. According to them, the negative changes of trees are difficult to see with the naked eye but they will appear under ultra-spectral and infrared remote sensing lenses. These technologies have been used to monitor drought and disease on food crops in the United States.

Early results show that some plants are better able to identify landmines and UXO in the ground than other plants, because they are particularly sensitive to chemicals. For example, experiments show that many weeds are not affected by TNT, RDX, while an elm reacts with the same chemicals as when it was sprayed with herbicides. Therefore, the researchers hope to soon create a list of plant-specific explosives response indicators to easily assess the impact of soil contaminated with landmines and ERW on trees. Combining the index with a low-cost sensor system, the research team said it could develop a mobile application for areas where mines and ERW survived from the war.

According to data from the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL), landmines and UXO left over 3,268 people in 2012, notably 47% of them are children. Currently, ICBL says that up to 60 countries still have many minefields that have not been removed or have many contaminated areas due to mines and ERW. Therefore, Don Young's senior expert believes that the technique of recognizing plants based on mines will be useful for places where explosives are obscured by vegetation and difficult to detect by traditional methods. , such as in Eastern Europe, sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia.

Reference: Livescience