World War II Explosives, Torpedo Heads and Naval Mines: How Ocean Creatures Thrives on Abandoned Weapons

In the slightly salty waters off the Germany's shoreline rests a wasteland of Nazi bombs, torpedoes and mines. Dumped from barges at the conclusion of the World War II and forgotten about, countless munitions have become matted together over the decades. They comprise a rusting layer on the shallow, silty seafloor of the Lübeck Bay in the western part of the Baltic Sea.

Over the years, the wartime weapons was overlooked and forgotten about. A increasing amount of tourists traveled to the sandy beaches and tranquil sea for water sports, kiteboarding and entertainment venues. Beneath the surface, the weapons decayed.

We initially anticipated to see a lifeless zone, with nothing living there because it was all contaminated, states Andrey Vedenin.

When the team went investigating to see what they were affecting to the marine environment, the team expected to see a desert, with no organisms because it was all toxic, states Andrey Vedenin.

What they discovered surprised them. Vedenin recalls his scientists reacting with shock when the underwater vehicle first sent the images back. It was a remarkable experience, he recalls.

Thousands of ocean life had established habitats among the explosives, creating a revitalized habitat more populous than the ocean bottom surrounding it.

This marine city was evidence to the resilience of life. It is actually astonishing how much life we observe in places that are expected to be dangerous and harmful, he explains.

In excess of 40 starfish had gathered on to one visible fragment of TNT. They were residing on iron containers, detonator compartments and storage boxes just a short distance from its explosive filling. Marine fish, crabs, anemones and bivalves were all discovered on the old munitions. It resembles a coral reef in terms of the quantity of fauna that was present, notes Vedenin.

Unexpected Population Density

An mean of more than forty thousand creatures were living on every square metre of the munitions, scientists wrote in their study on the observation. The nearby seabed was much less diverse, with only eight thousand organisms on every meter squared.

It is surprising that things that are meant to destroy everything are attracting so much marine organisms, states Vedenin. You can see how nature evolves after a major disaster such as the World War II and how, in certain respects, marine life finds its way to the most dangerous locations.

Man-made Features as Marine Habitats

Artificial features such as sunken vessels, offshore windfarms, drilling platforms and pipelines can provide alternatives, restoring some of the removed marine environment. This study demonstrates that munitions could be similarly beneficial – the proliferation of life on those in the Bay of Lübeck is expected to be repeated in different areas.

Between 1946 and the post-war period, 1.6 million tons of arms were discarded off the German coast. Countless of workers placed them in boats; a portion were deposited in designated areas, others just thrown overboard en route. This is the initial instance experts have studied how marine life has reacted.

Worldwide Instances of Marine Adaptation

• In the US, decommissioned energy installations have turned into marine habitats
• Sunken ships from the World War I have become homes for wildlife along the Potomac in Maryland
• Tank tracks that have become environment to coral off Asan beach in Guam

These places become even more important for organisms as the marine environments are increasingly stripped by commercial fishing, bottom trawling and boat mooring. Shipwrecks and explosive disposal locations practically serve as sanctuaries – they are not official reserves, but nearly any kind of human activity is banned, explains Vedenin. As a result a numerous of species that are typically uncommon or decreasing, such as the cod fish, are flourishing.

Coming Considerations

Anywhere armed conflict has happened in the past 100 years, nearby oceans are usually strewn with munitions, explains Vedenin. Many millions of tonnes of explosive material lie in our oceans.

The positions of these weapons are insufficiently mapped, partly because of national borders, classified armed forces records and the situation that records are buried in old files. They present an detonation and security hazard, as well as threat from the persistent release of toxic chemicals.

As Germany and other countries start clearing these relics, researchers plan to safeguard the ecosystems that have developed in their vicinity. In the Lübeck Bay explosives are presently being removed.

We should substitute these metal carcasses remaining from weapons with certain less dangerous, various harmless materials, like perhaps concrete structures, states Vedenin.

He now aspires that what transpires in the Bay of Lübeck sets a example for substituting structures after munitions removal in different areas – because including the most harmful weaponry can become foundation for marine organisms.