World War II Munitions, Torpedo Heads and Mines: How Marine Life Prosper on Abandoned Weapons

In the brackish sea off the German coast rests a graveyard of Nazi bombs, torpedoes and naval mines. Discarded from boats at the conclusion of the World War II and left behind, thousands weapons have fused into clusters over the decades. They form a rusting carpet on the shallow, muddy ocean floor of the Lübeck Bay in the western tip of the Baltic.

Over the decades, the explosive stockpile was ignored and forgotten about. A increasing amount of tourists traveled to the sandy beaches and tranquil sea for water sports, kiteboarding and entertainment venues. Underwater, the weapons decayed.

Some of us thought to see a desert, with no organisms because it was all poisoned, explains Andrey Vedenin.

When the first scientists went looking to see what they were affecting to the ecosystem, the team expected to see a barren area, with no life because it was all poisoned, states the lead researcher.

What they found surprised them. Vedenin remembers his team members exclaiming in amazement when the submersible first sent the images back. That moment was a remarkable experience, he says.

Numerous of marine animals had made their homes amid the munitions, creating a regenerated habitat richer than the seabed nearby.

This marine city was proof to the resilience of life. Indeed remarkable how much marine organisms we find in areas that are expected to be dangerous and risky, he explains.

More than 40 sea stars had clustered on to one exposed piece of TNT. They were living on iron containers, ignition chambers and storage boxes just a short distance from its dangerous content. Fish, crabs, anemones and mussels were all found on the historic weapons. It's similar to a coral reef in terms of the abundance of creatures that was present, says Vedenin.

Unexpected Population Density

An mean of more than 40,000 organisms were living on every meter squared of the weapons, experts reported in their research on the observation. The adjacent region was much less diverse, with only eight thousand individuals on every meter squared.

It is paradoxical that things that are intended to eliminate everything are hosting so much marine organisms, explains Vedenin. It's evident how the natural world evolves after a catastrophic event such as the second world war and how, in some way, life establishes itself to the most risky areas.

Man-made Structures as Marine Environments

Man-made features such as shipwrecks, offshore windfarms, drilling platforms and pipelines can offer alternatives, restoring some of the removed marine environment. This study shows that weapons could be equally advantageous – the proliferation of marine organisms on those in the Lübeck Bay is likely to be found in different areas.

Between the late 1940s and 1948, 1.6 million tons of munitions were dumped off the Germany's coast. Thousands of individuals transported them in barges; a portion were deposited in designated areas, the remainder just dumped while traveling. This is the first time researchers have studied how marine life has reacted.

Worldwide Examples of Ocean Transformation

• In the United States, decommissioned oil and gas structures have turned into marine habitats
• Submerged vessels from the World War I have become habitats for marine life along the Potomac River in the state of Maryland
• Tank tracks that have become home to coral off Asan in the Pacific island

These places become even more crucial for marine life as the seas are increasingly depleted by fishing, seafloor dredging and boat mooring. Sunken ships and explosive disposal locations practically act as sanctuaries – they are not official reserves, but almost any kind of human activity is banned, says Vedenin. As a result a lot of species that are usually scarce or declining, such as the Baltic cod, are thriving.

Future Considerations

Wherever armed conflict has occurred in the last century, nearby oceans are often strewn with weapons, says Vedenin. Many millions of tonnes of dangerous substances remain in our marine environments.

The locations of these weapons are inadequately recorded, partly because of national borders, restricted military information and the reality that documents are hidden in old files. They present an explosion and safety risk, as well as risk from the ongoing leakage of hazardous substances.

As Germany and additional nations embark on extracting these relics, researchers aim to safeguard the marine communities that have formed in their vicinity. In the Lübeck Bay explosives are already being cleared.

Researchers recommend substitute these iron structures originating from weapons with certain less dangerous, various safe structures, like perhaps concrete structures, states Vedenin.

He currently wishes that what transpires in the Bay of Lübeck establishes a example for substituting habitats after explosive extraction in other locations – because including the most damaging weaponry can become foundation for marine organisms.