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

In the slightly salty sea off the German coast lies a graveyard of World War II explosives, torpedo heads and mines. Discarded from barges at the conclusion of the World War II and neglected, thousands weapons have accumulated over the years. They comprise a corroding carpet on the low-depth, muddy seafloor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western part of the Baltic Sea.

Over the decades, the wartime weapons was ignored and forgotten about. A growing number of visitors traveled to the sandy beaches and tranquil sea for jetskiing, kiteboarding and entertainment venues. Below the waves, the munitions decayed.

Some of us thought to see a barren area, with no life because it was all poisoned, states a scientist.

When the team went looking to see what they were doing to the ecosystem, the team expected to see a lifeless zone, with no life because it was all toxic, says Andrey Vedenin.

What they discovered surprised them. Vedenin recalls his colleagues reacting with shock when the ROV first transmitted footage. That moment was a remarkable experience, he recalls.

Countless of ocean life had settled on the weapons, developing a revitalized habitat more populous than the sea floor nearby.

This ocean community was proof to the tenacity of life. It is actually surprising how much marine organisms we observe in locations that are expected to be hazardous and risky, he says.

More than 40 starfish had clustered on to one accessible chunk of explosive material. They were residing on steel casings, ignition chambers and transport cases just a short distance from its volatile core. Marine fish, crabs, anemones and bivalves 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.

Remarkable Population Density

An average of more than forty thousand animals were dwelling on every square metre of the munitions, scientists documented in their paper on the observation. The adjacent region was much poorer in life, with only 8,000 creatures on every meter squared.

It is ironic that objects that are designed to destroy all life are drawing so much life, says Vedenin. You can see how the natural world evolves after a catastrophic event such as the second world war and how, in certain respects, marine life returns to the most dangerous areas.

Man-made Structures as Marine Environments

Artificial structures such as sunken vessels, wind turbines, drilling platforms and pipelines can provide replacements, compensating for some of the removed habitat. This study shows that explosives could be similarly advantageous – the bloom of marine organisms on those in the Bay of Lübeck is likely to be duplicated in different areas.

Between 1946 and 1948, 1.6 million tons of munitions were discarded off the Germany's coast. Countless of workers loaded them in vessels; a portion were dropped in designated sites, others just thrown overboard while traveling. This is the first time researchers have documented how marine life has adapted.

Worldwide Instances of Marine Adaptation

• In the United States, retired drilling platforms have become coral reefs
• Shipwrecks from the first world war have become environments for creatures along the Potomac River in Maryland
• Tank tracks that have become home to coral off Asan beach in Guam

These locations become even more valuable for organisms as the oceans are increasingly stripped by fishing, bottom trawling and anchoring. Sunken ships and munitions areas effectively serve as sanctuaries – they are not national parks, but nearly any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is prohibited, says Vedenin. As a result a numerous of marine species that are otherwise uncommon or diminishing, such as the cod fish, are prospering.

Coming Factors

Anywhere military conflict has occurred in the last century, adjacent waters are typically littered with explosives, explains Vedenin. Many millions of tonnes of explosive material remain in our seas.

The sites of these weapons are poorly mapped, in part because of international boundaries, secret armed forces records and the reality that records are stored in historic archives. They present an explosion and security danger, as well as risk from the ongoing release of hazardous substances.

As Germany and additional nations start extracting these relics, researchers hope to preserve the ecosystems that have established around them. In the Bay of Lübeck explosives are already being cleared.

Researchers recommend replace these iron structures originating from weapons with some safer, various non-dangerous structures, like maybe man-made habitats, suggests Vedenin.

He currently aspires that what transpires in the Bay of Lübeck establishes a model for substituting material after explosive extraction in other locations – because also the most destructive explosives can become foundation for new life.