World War II Munitions, Torpedo Heads and Naval Mines: The Way Ocean Creatures Flourishes on Abandoned Weapons

In the slightly salty sea off the German coast rests a wasteland of World War II explosives, torpedoes and naval mines. Dumped from barges at the end of the World War II and neglected, countless explosives have fused into clusters over the decades. They create a corroding blanket on the shallow, silty ocean floor of the Lübeck Bay in the western tip of the Baltic.

Over the decades, the wartime weapons was overlooked and neglected. A increasing amount of tourists flocked to the sandy beaches and tranquil sea for jetskiing, kite surfing and amusement parks. Beneath the surface, the weapons eroded.

Some of us anticipated to see a lifeless zone, with no organisms because it was all contaminated, explains a scientist.

When the initial researchers went investigating to see what they were doing to the ecosystem, the team anticipated finding a barren area, with no life because it was all toxic, states the lead researcher.

What they observed astonished them. Vedenin remembers his colleagues shouting with surprise when the underwater vehicle first sent the images back. That moment was a great moment, he says.

Numerous of marine animals had made their homes among the weapons, developing a revitalized marine community denser than the ocean bottom nearby.

This marine city was testament to the tenacity of marine life. Indeed astonishing how much marine organisms we observe in locations that are supposed to be hazardous and harmful, he explains.

In excess of 40 starfish had gathered on to one exposed chunk of explosive material. They were living on iron containers, fuse pockets and transport cases just centimetres from its dangerous content. Fish, crabs, sea anemones and bivalves were all found on the historic weapons. It's similar to a coral reef in terms of the quantity of creatures that was present, states Vedenin.

Remarkable Creature Concentration

An mean of more than 40,000 animals were dwelling on every meter squared of the weapons, scientists documented in their paper on the observation. The adjacent region was much less diverse, with only 8,000 individuals on every square metre.

It is paradoxical that things that are meant to kill all life are attracting so much life, says Vedenin. You can see how nature adjusts after a devastating occurrence such as the World War II and how, in some way, life establishes itself to the most hazardous locations.

Man-made Structures as Ocean Environments

Man-made features such as sunken vessels, wind turbines, oil rigs and undersea pipes can provide replacements, compensating for some of the destroyed habitat. This research reveals that explosives could be similarly beneficial – the proliferation of life on those in the Lübeck Bay is likely to be duplicated in other locations.

Between the late 1940s and the post-war period, 1.6 million tons of weapons were dumped off the German coast. Thousands of people loaded them in vessels; some were dropped in specific sites, others just dumped en route. This is the first time experts have recorded how ocean organisms has adapted.

Worldwide Instances of Marine Transformation

• In the United States, retired energy installations have turned into reef ecosystems
• Submerged vessels from the first world war have become homes for creatures along the Potomac in the state of Maryland
• Military vehicle parts that have become home to coral off Asan beach in Guam

These locations become even more important for organisms as the seas are increasingly stripped by commercial fishing, bottom trawling and anchoring. Shipwrecks and weapons dump sites effectively function as protected areas – they are not national parks, but virtually any kind of human activity is prohibited, explains Vedenin. Therefore a lot of marine species that are typically scarce or diminishing, such as the cod fish, are thriving.

Coming Considerations

Wherever armed conflict has taken place in the last century, adjacent waters are often strewn with munitions, explains Vedenin. Millions of tonnes of dangerous substances remain in our seas.

The sites of these munitions are poorly recorded, partially because of sovereign limits, restricted armed forces records and the reality that documents are buried in historical records. They create an explosion and security danger, as well as risk from the ongoing release of hazardous substances.

As the German government and other countries begin extracting these remains, researchers hope to safeguard the ecosystems that have formed around them. In the Bay of Lübeck explosives are presently being cleared.

We should replace these metal carcasses originating from munitions with certain more secure, some non-dangerous materials, like possibly concrete structures, suggests Vedenin.

He presently wishes that what transpires in the Bay of Lübeck sets a model for substituting structures after explosive extraction in other locations – because including the most damaging explosives can become foundation for marine organisms.