World War II Munitions, Torpedo Heads and Mines: The Way Ocean Creatures Thrives on Abandoned Armaments

In the brackish sea off the Germany's coast sits a wasteland of Nazi bombs, torpedo heads and naval mines. Dumped from boats at the conclusion of the World War II and left behind, countless explosives have fused into clusters over the years. They comprise a rusting carpet on the low-depth, silty seafloor of the Lübeck Bay in the western part of the Baltic.

Over the decades, the explosive stockpile was ignored and neglected. A growing number of visitors came to the coastal areas and calm waters for jetskiing, kiteboarding and entertainment venues. Below the waves, the munitions eroded.

Some of us anticipated to see a desert, with nothing living there because it was all toxic, states Andrey Vedenin.

When the first scientists went investigating to see what they were doing to the marine environment, some of us expected to see a lifeless zone, with no life because it was all poisoned, explains the lead researcher.

What they observed surprised them. Vedenin recalls his colleagues shouting with surprise when the underwater vehicle first sent the images back. That moment was a memorable occasion, he says.

Thousands of marine animals had settled amid the explosives, creating a regenerated ecosystem denser than the sea floor around it.

This marine city was evidence to the persistence of life. Truly astonishing how much life we observe in places that are considered toxic and harmful, he states.

In excess of 40 starfish had piled on to one visible fragment of TNT. They were dwelling on metal shells, ignition chambers and carrying containers just a short distance from its dangerous content. Marine fish, crustaceans, anemones and bivalves were all discovered on the discarded explosives. It resembles a coral reef in terms of the quantity of animal life that was inhabiting the area, notes Vedenin.

Surprising Population Density

An mean of more than 40,000 creatures were living on every square metre of the explosives, researchers reported in their research on the finding. The adjacent region was much less diverse, with only 8,000 individuals on every meter squared.

It is ironic that objects that are intended to destroy everything are attracting so much marine organisms, says Vedenin. You can see how nature adjusts after a catastrophic event such as the World War II and how, in certain respects, marine life establishes itself to the most hazardous places.

Artificial Features as Ocean Habitats

Man-made constructions such as shipwrecks, wind turbines, oil rigs and pipelines can offer alternatives, compensating for some of the lost habitat. This investigation demonstrates that explosives could be comparably beneficial – the proliferation of marine organisms on those in the Bay of Lübeck is expected to be found in different areas.

Between the late 1940s and 1948, 1.6m tonnes of arms were disposed of off the German coast. Numerous of individuals placed them in vessels; a portion were placed in designated locations, the remainder just thrown overboard during transport. This is the first time experts have recorded how marine life has responded.

Global Instances of Marine Transformation

• In the US, retired energy installations have turned into reef ecosystems
• Submerged vessels from the World War I have become homes for creatures along the Potomac River in the state of Maryland
• Tank tracks that have become habitat to reef-building organisms off Asan beach in Guam

These locations become even more valuable for organisms as the seas are increasingly stripped by commercial fishing, bottom trawling and boat mooring. Sunken ships and munitions areas effectively act as protected areas – they are not official reserves, but almost any kind of human activity is prohibited, states Vedenin. Consequently a numerous of marine species that are usually scarce or diminishing, such as the Baltic cod, are flourishing.

Coming Issues

Anywhere warfare has happened in the recent history, nearby oceans are usually strewn with munitions, states Vedenin. Many millions of tons of explosive material remain in our marine environments.

The sites of these weapons are poorly mapped, in part because of international boundaries, secret defense data and the reality that records are buried in old files. They create an detonation and safety hazard, as well as risk from the continuous emission of hazardous substances.

As Germany and additional nations start removing these remains, researchers hope to protect the ecosystems that have formed around them. In the Lübeck Bay munitions are already being extracted.

We should replace these metal carcasses originating from weapons with certain less dangerous, some harmless materials, like maybe concrete structures, states Vedenin.

He currently aspires that what occurs in the Bay of Lübeck creates a precedent for substituting material after explosive extraction elsewhere – because including the most harmful weaponry can become scaffolding for new life.