World War II Munitions, Torpedoes and Naval Mines: How Marine Life Thrives on Abandoned Armaments

In the slightly salty waters off the German coast rests a graveyard of World War II explosives, torpedo heads and mines. Dumped from barges at the conclusion of the second world war and neglected, thousands explosives have accumulated over the years. They create a corroding carpet on the low-depth, silty ocean floor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western tip of the Baltic.

Over the years, the explosive stockpile was overlooked and neglected. A growing number of tourists came to the coastal areas and tranquil sea for water sports, kiteboarding and amusement parks. Below the waves, the weapons deteriorated.

Researchers anticipated to see a barren area, with nothing living there because it was all contaminated, says a scientist.

When the team went searching to see what they were affecting to the marine environment, some of us thought they would find a desert, with no life because it was all toxic, says Andrey Vedenin.

What they observed astonished them. Vedenin recalls his scientists shouting with surprise when the underwater vehicle first relayed pictures. It was a great moment, he notes.

Numerous of sea creatures had settled on the explosives, forming a revitalized marine community denser than the ocean bottom nearby.

This marine city was testament to the resilience of marine life. Indeed astonishing how much marine organisms we discover in areas that are supposed to be dangerous and harmful, he states.

In excess of 40 starfish had clustered on to one exposed fragment of TNT. They were living on steel casings, fuse pockets and storage boxes just a short distance from its volatile core. Fish, crustaceans, anemones and bivalves were all discovered on the old munitions. You could compare it with a reef ecosystem in terms of the amount of creatures that was present, says Vedenin.

Surprising Creature Concentration

An average of more than 40,000 creatures were residing on every meter squared of the munitions, experts wrote in their study on the discovery. The nearby seabed was much poorer in life, with only 8,000 organisms on every square metre.

It is ironic that objects that are intended to destroy all life are drawing so much marine organisms, explains Vedenin. One can observe how nature adjusts after a major disaster such as the World War II and how, in some way, life establishes itself to the most hazardous areas.

Artificial Structures as Ocean Environments

Artificial features such as shipwrecks, offshore windfarms, drilling platforms and undersea pipes can create replacements, replacing some of the lost marine environment. This research demonstrates that explosives could be similarly positive – the bloom of life on those in the Lübeck Bay is expected to be found in different areas.

Between the late 1940s and the post-war period, 1.6 million tons of weapons were dumped off the Germany's coast. Thousands of people placed them in boats; a portion were placed in allocated sites, the remainder just thrown overboard during transport. This is the initial instance experts have documented how marine life has adapted.

Global Instances of Marine Transformation

• In the United States, retired drilling platforms have turned into marine habitats
• Sunken ships from the World War I have become habitats for wildlife along the Potomac River in Maryland
• Tank tracks that have become home to reef-building organisms off Asan beach in the Pacific island

These places become even more crucial for wildlife as the marine environments are increasingly depleted by commercial fishing, bottom trawling and anchoring. Shipwrecks and munitions areas effectively function as protected areas – they are not official reserves, but almost any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is banned, states Vedenin. Therefore a lot of organisms that are otherwise rare or diminishing, such as the Baltic cod, are prospering.

Future Issues

Anywhere warfare has occurred in the last century, surrounding seas are often strewn with munitions, states Vedenin. Many millions of tons of dangerous substances rest in our seas.

The positions of these explosives are inadequately recorded, partially because of national borders, secret defense data and the fact that records are hidden in historic archives. They present an detonation and safety hazard, as well as danger from the continuous leakage of hazardous substances.

As the German government and different states begin removing these remains, researchers aim to protect the marine communities that have established nearby. In the Bay of Lübeck munitions are already being cleared.

We should replace these metal carcasses originating from munitions with certain more secure, various harmless structures, like possibly man-made habitats, says Vedenin.

He now aspires that what transpires in Lübeck sets a example for substituting material after weapon clearance elsewhere – because even the most destructive armaments can become framework for ocean ecosystems.