World War II Munitions, Torpedo Heads and Mines: How Ocean Creatures Flourishes on Dumped Weapons

In the brackish waters off the Germany's shoreline sits a graveyard of Nazi bombs, torpedoes and naval mines. Dumped from barges at the end of the second world war and neglected, numerous explosives have become matted together over the decades. They form a corroding blanket on the low-depth, silty seafloor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western part of the Baltic.

Over the years, the explosive stockpile was ignored and neglected. A increasing amount of visitors came to the coastal areas and tranquil sea for jetskiing, kiteboarding and entertainment venues. Below the waves, the weapons eroded.

We initially anticipated to see a barren area, with no organisms because it was all toxic, explains Andrey Vedenin.

When the first scientists went investigating to see what they were doing to the ecosystem, the team expected to see a barren area, with nothing living there because it was all poisoned, says a scientist.

What they found astonished them. Vedenin recounts his team members shouting with surprise when the underwater vehicle first sent the images back. This was a great moment, he recalls.

Countless of sea creatures had established habitats on the weapons, developing a renewed marine community richer than the sea floor surrounding it.

This ocean community was proof to the resilience of life. Truly astonishing how much life we discover in areas that are considered hazardous and dangerous, he states.

In excess of 40 starfish had clustered on to one exposed fragment of TNT. They were dwelling on iron containers, fuse pockets and transport cases just a short distance from its explosive filling. Fish, crabs, sea anemones and mussels were all observed on the discarded explosives. It resembles a marine reef in terms of the quantity of animal life that was inhabiting the area, says Vedenin.

Unexpected Population Density

An mean of more than forty thousand animals were residing on every meter squared of the explosives, experts reported in their study on the observation. The nearby seabed was much sparser, with only 8,000 individuals on every meter squared.

It is paradoxical that things that are designed to kill all life are hosting so much life, states Vedenin. It's evident how the natural world adapts after a catastrophic event such as the second world war and how, in certain respects, life returns to the most risky locations.

Artificial Structures as Marine Habitats

Man-made constructions such as shipwrecks, offshore windfarms, oil rigs and pipelines can create alternatives, restoring some of the removed marine environment. This investigation reveals that munitions could be equally beneficial – the proliferation of life on those in the Lübeck Bay is likely to be found in different areas.

Between 1946 and the post-war period, 1.6m tons of weapons were discarded off the Germany's shoreline. Numerous of individuals placed them in barges; a portion were dropped in allocated areas, others just thrown overboard while traveling. This is the first time researchers have documented how marine life has reacted.

Worldwide Examples of Ocean Adaptation

• In the US, retired oil and gas structures have transformed into marine habitats
• Sunken ships from the first world war have become environments for marine life 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 places become even more valuable for marine life as the seas are increasingly depleted by commercial fishing, seafloor dredging and boat mooring. Shipwrecks and weapons dump sites practically act as sanctuaries – they are not national parks, but almost any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is prohibited, states Vedenin. Consequently a lot of organisms that are usually rare or diminishing, such as the Baltic cod, are flourishing.

Future Factors

Wherever military conflict has occurred in the past 100 years, nearby oceans are often strewn with munitions, explains Vedenin. Millions of tonnes of explosive material rest in our seas.

The positions of these weapons are insufficiently mapped, in part because of national borders, secret defense data and the fact that archives are stored in historic archives. They present an explosion and safety risk, as well as danger from the persistent emission of poisonous compounds.

As the German government and additional nations begin clearing these artifacts, experts hope to preserve the habitats that have established in their vicinity. In the Lübeck Bay munitions are presently being removed.

Researchers recommend substitute these steel remains originating from munitions with certain less dangerous, some harmless materials, like perhaps concrete structures, states Vedenin.

He presently wishes that what occurs in Lübeck sets a model for replacing material after explosive extraction elsewhere – because including the most damaging weaponry can become framework for marine organisms.