World War II Munitions, Torpedo Heads and Mines: The Way Marine Life Thrives on Discarded Armaments

In the brackish sea off the German shoreline sits a collection of Nazi bombs, torpedoes and naval mines. Dumped from barges at the conclusion of the second world war and forgotten about, numerous munitions have fused into clusters over the years. They create a rusting blanket on the shallow, muddy seafloor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western part of the Baltic.

Over the years, the wartime weapons was overlooked and neglected. A growing number of visitors came to the coastal areas and tranquil sea for water sports, kiteboarding and amusement parks. Underwater, the weapons decayed.

Some of us thought to see a lifeless zone, with nothing living there because it was all poisoned, explains a scientist.

When the team went investigating to see what they were doing to the ecosystem, researchers thought they would find a lifeless zone, with no life because it was all toxic, explains a scientist.

What they discovered amazed them. Vedenin recalls his scientists shouting with surprise when the underwater vehicle first relayed pictures. That moment was a memorable occasion, he notes.

Numerous of marine animals had made their homes on the munitions, developing a renewed ecosystem denser than the seabed surrounding it.

This ocean community was evidence to the persistence of life. Truly surprising how much life we observe in places that are supposed to be hazardous and risky, he explains.

Over 40 starfish had gathered on to one visible chunk of TNT. They were residing on metal shells, detonator compartments and transport cases just centimetres from its dangerous content. Fish, crustaceans, sea anemones and bivalves were all found on the historic weapons. It resembles a marine reef in terms of the amount of creatures that was present, states Vedenin.

Remarkable Population Density

An average of more than forty thousand organisms were living on every square metre of the munitions, scientists reported in their study on the observation. The nearby seabed was much poorer in life, with only 8,000 creatures on every meter squared.

It is ironic that things that are designed to eliminate everything are attracting so much marine organisms, says Vedenin. You can see how the natural world adapts after a catastrophic event such as the World War II and how, in some way, marine life establishes itself to the most dangerous places.

Man-made Features as Marine Habitats

Artificial constructions such as shipwrecks, offshore windfarms, oil rigs and pipelines can create replacements, compensating for some of the destroyed habitat. This research reveals that munitions could be similarly advantageous – the proliferation of life on those in the Bay of Lübeck is likely to be found elsewhere.

Between the late 1940s and the post-war period, 1.6m tonnes of arms were discarded off the Germany's coast. Countless of workers placed them in barges; a portion were dropped in designated areas, the remainder just discarded at sea while traveling. This is the first time experts have studied how marine life has adapted.

Worldwide Examples of Ocean Adaptation

• In the US, retired drilling platforms have turned into reef ecosystems
• Sunken ships from the first world war have become environments for creatures along the Potomac River in the state of Maryland
• Military vehicle parts that have become home to reef-building organisms off Asan in Guam

These locations become even more important for marine life as the marine environments are increasingly stripped by fishing, bottom trawling and anchoring. Shipwrecks and weapons dump sites essentially function as sanctuaries – they are not official reserves, but nearly any kind of human activity is restricted, states Vedenin. As a result a lot of species that are typically scarce or decreasing, such as the Baltic cod, are thriving.

Coming Issues

Anywhere armed conflict has occurred in the past 100 years, surrounding seas are typically strewn with munitions, states Vedenin. Millions of tonnes of volatile compounds lie in our oceans.

The positions of these explosives are inadequately mapped, partly because of international boundaries, restricted armed forces records and the fact that archives are buried in historical records. They pose an explosion and safety risk, as well as danger from the continuous leakage of poisonous compounds.

As the German government and other countries begin removing these relics, scientists plan to preserve the habitats that have developed around them. In the Lübeck Bay explosives are presently being cleared.

It would be wise to replace these steel remains left from munitions with certain less dangerous, various safe structures, like maybe concrete structures, suggests Vedenin.

He presently wishes that what transpires in Lübeck creates a example for substituting structures after explosive extraction in different areas – because even the most harmful weaponry can become scaffolding for marine organisms.