World War II Explosives, Torpedo Heads and Mines: How Marine Life Thrives on Dumped Armaments

In the brackish waters off the Germany's shoreline lies a collection of World War II explosives, torpedoes and mines. Dumped from boats at the end of the second world war and neglected, numerous weapons have fused into clusters over the years. They comprise a corroding layer on the low-depth, silty ocean floor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western part of the Baltic.

Over the decades, the Nazi arsenal was overlooked and forgotten about. A growing number of visitors came to the coastal areas and calm waters for jetskiing, kite surfing and entertainment venues. Underwater, the munitions decayed.

We initially anticipated to see a desert, with no organisms because it was all contaminated, explains Andrey Vedenin.

When the first scientists went investigating to see what they were doing to the ecosystem, some of us expected to see a desert, with nothing living there because it was all contaminated, says Andrey Vedenin.

What they observed surprised them. Vedenin remembers his team members shouting with surprise when the submersible first transmitted footage. It was a remarkable experience, he recalls.

Thousands of marine animals had established habitats amid the munitions, forming a regenerated ecosystem denser than the ocean bottom around it.

This ocean community was evidence to the resilience of life. It is actually astonishing how much marine organisms we find in areas that are supposed to be dangerous and dangerous, he explains.

In excess of 40 starfish had piled on to one visible chunk of TNT. They were living on steel casings, fuse pockets and transport cases just a short distance from its volatile core. Fish, crustaceans, anemones and bivalves were all observed on the old munitions. You could compare it with a reef ecosystem in terms of the amount of animal life that was there, states Vedenin.

Surprising Creature Concentration

An mean of more than 40,000 organisms were dwelling on every square metre of the munitions, researchers wrote in their study on the observation. The nearby seabed was much less diverse, with only 8,000 individuals on every meter squared.

It is ironic that objects that are designed to kill all life are attracting so much life, explains Vedenin. You can see how nature adjusts after a catastrophic event such as the second world war and how, in some way, marine life finds its way to the most risky locations.

Man-made Structures as Ocean Habitats

Man-made constructions such as sunken vessels, offshore windfarms, drilling platforms and pipelines can create replacements, restoring some of the lost habitat. This investigation shows that explosives could be equally positive – the bloom of marine organisms on those in the Bay of Lübeck is likely to be duplicated in different areas.

Between the late 1940s and the post-war period, 1.6 million tons of munitions were dumped off the German shoreline. Thousands of workers transported them in boats; some were dropped in designated locations, the remainder just discarded at sea during transport. This is the first time researchers have studied how ocean organisms has adapted.

Global Examples of Ocean Adaptation

• In the United States, decommissioned oil and gas structures have transformed into marine habitats
• Shipwrecks from the World War I have become habitats for marine life along the Potomac River in Maryland
• Tank tracks that have become habitat to reef-building organisms off Asan beach in Guam

These areas become even more crucial for marine life as the oceans are increasingly depleted by fishing, seafloor dredging and boat mooring. Shipwrecks and munitions areas practically serve as refuges – they are not national parks, but nearly any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is restricted, explains Vedenin. Consequently a numerous of organisms that are usually uncommon or declining, such as the cod fish, are prospering.

Coming Factors

Wherever military conflict has happened in the past 100 years, surrounding seas are usually strewn with explosives, says Vedenin. Many millions of tonnes of dangerous substances lie in our marine environments.

The locations of these munitions are inadequately documented, partially because of international boundaries, secret defense data and the situation that records are buried in historic archives. They pose an explosion and safety danger, as well as danger from the persistent release of toxic chemicals.

As Germany and additional nations begin removing these artifacts, researchers aim to safeguard the marine communities that have developed around them. In the Bay of Lübeck weapons are currently being extracted.

It would be wise to substitute these steel remains originating from munitions with some more secure, various safe structures, like perhaps concrete structures, states Vedenin.

He currently aspires that what transpires in Lübeck creates a example for replacing structures after explosive extraction elsewhere – because even the most damaging armaments can become framework for marine organisms.