World War II Munitions, Torpedoes and Naval Mines: The Way Ocean Creatures Thrives on Dumped Weapons

In the slightly salty sea off the German coast lies a wasteland of World War II explosives, torpedo heads and naval mines. Discarded from barges at the conclusion of the second world war and left behind, thousands explosives have accumulated over the decades. They create a rusting layer on the shallow, silty ocean floor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western part of the Baltic.

Over the decades, the Nazi arsenal was overlooked and neglected. A growing number of visitors flocked to the sandy beaches and calm waters for water sports, kite surfing and amusement parks. Underwater, the munitions eroded.

Researchers anticipated to see a desert, with no life because it was all toxic, says Andrey Vedenin.

When the first scientists went searching to see what they were affecting to the ecosystem, the team thought they would find a desert, with no life because it was all poisoned, says the lead researcher.

What they observed astonished them. Vedenin recalls his team members exclaiming in amazement when the ROV first relayed pictures. That moment was a memorable occasion, he notes.

Countless of sea creatures had settled amid the explosives, forming a revitalized ecosystem more populous than the ocean bottom nearby.

This marine city was proof to the persistence of life. Indeed astonishing how much marine organisms we find in locations that are supposed to be dangerous and dangerous, he explains.

More than 40 sea stars had piled on to one visible chunk of TNT. They were dwelling on steel casings, ignition chambers and carrying containers just a short distance from its volatile core. Fish, crustaceans, anemones and mussels were all discovered on the discarded explosives. It resembles a marine reef in terms of the quantity of creatures that was inhabiting the area, states Vedenin.

Surprising Creature Concentration

An mean of more than forty thousand animals were residing on every square metre of the weapons, scientists reported in their research on the discovery. The surrounding area was much less diverse, with only 8,000 creatures on every meter squared.

It is paradoxical that objects that are intended to kill everything are hosting 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 some way, marine life establishes itself to the most risky places.

Artificial Structures as Marine Habitats

Man-made structures such as shipwrecks, wind turbines, oil rigs and pipelines can create substitutes, restoring some of the destroyed marine environment. This research shows that explosives could be comparably beneficial – the explosion of marine organisms on those in the Bay of Lübeck is expected to be repeated in other locations.

Between 1946 and 1948, 1.6 million tonnes of arms were discarded off the Germany's shoreline. Thousands of individuals placed them in boats; a portion were dropped in specific locations, others just dumped en route. This is the first time researchers have recorded how ocean organisms has reacted.

Worldwide Examples of Marine Transformation

• In the United States, decommissioned drilling platforms have turned into marine habitats
• Submerged vessels from the World War I have become habitats for wildlife along the Potomac in Maryland
• Tank tracks that have become home to coral off Asan in Guam

These places become even more important for wildlife as the oceans are increasingly stripped by fishing, bottom trawling and boat mooring. Sunken ships and munitions areas essentially function as protected areas – they are not official reserves, but nearly any kind of human activity is banned, says Vedenin. Therefore a numerous of marine species that are usually rare or decreasing, such as the cod fish, are flourishing.

Future Considerations

Anywhere military conflict has taken place in the past 100 years, surrounding seas are typically containing munitions, says Vedenin. Many millions of tons of volatile compounds remain in our seas.

The locations of these explosives are inadequately documented, partly because of national borders, restricted military information and the reality that archives are buried in historical records. They create an detonation and security hazard, as well as danger from the continuous release of hazardous substances.

As the German government and different states start extracting these relics, researchers aim to preserve the marine communities that have formed around them. In the Lübeck Bay weapons are currently being extracted.

We should substitute these metal carcasses originating from munitions with certain less dangerous, various safe structures, like maybe concrete structures, states Vedenin.

He currently wishes that what happens in the Bay of Lübeck sets a precedent for substituting material after explosive extraction elsewhere – because even the most damaging weaponry can become scaffolding for ocean ecosystems.