World War II Munitions, Torpedoes and Naval Mines: How Ocean Creatures Thrives on Abandoned Armaments

In the slightly salty waters off the Germany's coast sits a graveyard of Nazi bombs, torpedo heads and naval mines. Thrown off vessels at the end of the World War II and left behind, numerous munitions have fused into clusters over the decades. They form a rusting layer on the low-depth, muddy seafloor of the Lübeck Bay in the western part of the Baltic.

Over the decades, the wartime weapons was ignored and forgotten about. A growing number of tourists traveled to the coastal areas and calm waters for jetskiing, kite surfing and entertainment venues. Below the waves, the weapons decayed.

We initially expected to see a desert, with nothing living there because it was all toxic, states a scientist.

When the first scientists went investigating to see what they were affecting to the ecosystem, researchers thought they would find a barren area, with no life because it was all poisoned, explains the lead researcher.

What they found amazed them. Vedenin recounts his colleagues shouting with surprise when the underwater vehicle first transmitted footage. It was a remarkable experience, he says.

Numerous of marine animals had established habitats amid the explosives, forming a revitalized ecosystem more populous than the sea floor nearby.

This ocean community was proof to the persistence of life. Truly astonishing how much marine organisms we find in places that are expected to be hazardous and harmful, he says.

More than 40 starfish had gathered on to one exposed piece of TNT. They were residing on iron containers, ignition chambers and transport cases just centimetres from its explosive filling. Fish, crustaceans, anemones and mussels were all discovered on the historic weapons. You could compare it with a reef ecosystem in terms of the abundance of animal life that was inhabiting the area, states Vedenin.

Remarkable Creature Concentration

An average of more than 40,000 creatures were living on every square metre of the munitions, experts documented in their research on the observation. The adjacent region was much sparser, with only eight thousand organisms on every square metre.

It is surprising that items that are meant to eliminate everything are attracting so much life, states Vedenin. One can observe how the natural world evolves after a catastrophic event such as the World War II and how, in certain respects, life finds its way to the most dangerous places.

Man-made Structures as Ocean Habitats

Man-made constructions such as shipwrecks, offshore windfarms, drilling platforms and pipelines can create alternatives, restoring some of the lost marine environment. This investigation demonstrates that explosives could be comparably advantageous – the proliferation of marine organisms on those in the Lübeck Bay is likely to be repeated in other locations.

Between 1946 and the post-war period, 1.6m tons of munitions were discarded off the German shoreline. Numerous of people loaded them in barges; some were deposited in specific areas, the remainder just discarded at sea while traveling. This is the initial instance scientists have recorded how ocean organisms has adapted.

Worldwide Instances of Marine Adaptation

• In the US, retired oil and gas structures have turned into coral reefs
• Sunken ships from the World War I have become environments for creatures along the Potomac River in Maryland
• Military vehicle parts that have become habitat to coral off Asan beach in the Pacific island

These areas become even more valuable for wildlife as the seas are increasingly depleted by commercial fishing, seafloor dredging and boat mooring. Shipwrecks and munitions areas effectively serve as protected areas – they are not official reserves, but nearly any kind of human activity is banned, states Vedenin. Consequently a numerous of species that are otherwise rare or declining, such as the cod fish, are thriving.

Future Considerations

Wherever warfare has occurred in the recent history, adjacent waters are usually strewn with explosives, says Vedenin. Millions of tons of dangerous substances lie in our marine environments.

The sites of these weapons are insufficiently recorded, in part because of international boundaries, classified military information and the situation that archives are buried in old files. They present an explosion and security risk, as well as threat from the persistent leakage of poisonous compounds.

As Germany and additional nations begin removing these remains, scientists hope to safeguard the ecosystems that have established in their vicinity. In the Bay of Lübeck weapons are currently being cleared.

Researchers recommend substitute these iron structures originating from weapons with some more secure, various safe materials, like maybe man-made habitats, suggests Vedenin.

He currently hopes that what happens in Lübeck sets a example for substituting habitats after weapon clearance in other locations – because even the most destructive weaponry can become framework for ocean ecosystems.