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

In the brackish waters off the German shoreline lies a graveyard of Nazi bombs, torpedoes and mines. Thrown off barges at the end of the World War II and forgotten about, numerous weapons have accumulated over the decades. They create a decaying blanket on the shallow, muddy ocean floor of the Lübeck Bay in the western part of the Baltic.

Over the years, the explosive stockpile was overlooked and forgotten about. A increasing amount of tourists traveled to the sandy beaches and calm waters for jetskiing, kiteboarding and entertainment venues. Below the waves, the weapons eroded.

Some of us expected to see a lifeless zone, with nothing living there because it was all contaminated, says Andrey Vedenin.

When the initial researchers went searching to see what they were affecting to the ecosystem, some of us thought they would find a barren area, with nothing living there because it was all poisoned, states Andrey Vedenin.

What they observed surprised them. Vedenin recounts his colleagues shouting with surprise when the ROV first sent the images back. It was a remarkable experience, he says.

Thousands of ocean life had settled amid the munitions, creating a revitalized habitat more populous than the ocean bottom nearby.

This underwater metropolis was evidence to the tenacity of life. Indeed remarkable how much life we find in areas that are expected to be toxic and harmful, he states.

More than 40 sea stars had piled on to one visible fragment of TNT. They were dwelling on iron containers, fuse pockets and carrying containers just a short distance from its volatile core. Marine fish, crustaceans, anemones and mussels were all found on the discarded explosives. You could compare it with a reef ecosystem in terms of the amount of animal life that was there, notes Vedenin.

Surprising Creature Concentration

An mean of more than forty thousand creatures were living on every square metre of the explosives, scientists documented in their paper on the finding. The surrounding area was much less diverse, with only 8,000 creatures on every meter squared.

It is paradoxical that items that are meant to kill everything are hosting so much marine organisms, explains Vedenin. You can see how nature evolves after a catastrophic event such as the World War II and how, in certain respects, life finds its way to the most risky places.

Artificial Structures as Ocean Environments

Artificial structures such as sunken vessels, wind turbines, drilling platforms and pipelines can create replacements, restoring some of the removed marine environment. This investigation shows that explosives could be comparably positive – the bloom of marine organisms on those in the Lübeck Bay is expected to be repeated in other locations.

Between 1946 and 1948, 1.6 million tons of weapons were dumped off the Germany's shoreline. Thousands of individuals transported them in boats; a portion were placed in specific locations, others just thrown overboard during transport. This is the initial instance experts have documented how ocean organisms has responded.

Worldwide Examples of Marine Adaptation

• In the United States, decommissioned drilling platforms have transformed into marine habitats
• Shipwrecks from the World War I have become homes 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 crucial for marine life as the oceans are increasingly stripped by fishing, seafloor dredging and boat mooring. Sunken ships and munitions areas practically act as protected areas – they are not national parks, but nearly any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is prohibited, explains Vedenin. As a result a numerous of organisms that are usually scarce or diminishing, such as the cod fish, are thriving.

Coming Issues

Anywhere military conflict has occurred in the last century, surrounding seas are typically strewn with munitions, states Vedenin. Many millions of tons of dangerous substances lie in our seas.

The positions of these explosives are inadequately recorded, in part because of international boundaries, secret military information and the fact that documents are buried in historical records. They create an explosion and safety danger, as well as danger from the ongoing emission of toxic chemicals.

As the German government and other countries embark on clearing these relics, experts plan to safeguard the marine communities that have formed in their vicinity. In the Lübeck Bay munitions are already being removed.

We should substitute these metal carcasses remaining from munitions with some safer, some harmless objects, like maybe man-made habitats, says Vedenin.

He currently wishes that what occurs in Lübeck establishes a model for replacing material after munitions removal in different areas – because including the most destructive weaponry can become scaffolding for marine organisms.