World War II Bombs, Torpedo Heads and Mines: How Marine Life Thrives on Dumped Weapons

In the brackish waters off the Germany's coast sits a wasteland of World War II explosives, torpedoes and naval mines. Discarded from barges at the end of the World War II and neglected, numerous explosives have become matted together over the decades. They create a rusting blanket on the low-depth, silty ocean floor of the Lübeck Bay in the western tip of the Baltic.

Over the years, the Nazi arsenal was ignored and neglected. A growing number of visitors flocked to the coastal areas and tranquil sea for jetskiing, kite surfing and amusement parks. Beneath the surface, the munitions decayed.

Researchers anticipated to see a barren area, with no life because it was all toxic, says Andrey Vedenin.

When the team went investigating to see what they were doing to the marine environment, researchers expected to see a lifeless zone, with no organisms because it was all poisoned, says Andrey Vedenin.

What they observed surprised them. Vedenin remembers his colleagues reacting with shock when the ROV first transmitted footage. It was a great moment, he notes.

Numerous of ocean life had made their homes among the weapons, forming a revitalized ecosystem richer than the seabed around it.

This ocean community was proof to the resilience of marine life. Truly astonishing how much marine organisms we discover in areas that are supposed to be dangerous and dangerous, he explains.

In excess of 40 starfish had clustered on to one accessible fragment of TNT. They were dwelling on iron containers, detonator compartments and transport cases just a short distance from its volatile core. Marine fish, crustaceans, sea anemones and bivalves were all found on the discarded explosives. You could compare it with a marine reef in terms of the quantity of creatures that was present, states Vedenin.

Surprising Population Density

An average of more than 40,000 organisms were dwelling on every square metre of the explosives, experts reported in their study on the observation. The adjacent region was much less diverse, with only eight thousand organisms on every square metre.

It is paradoxical that things that are designed to eliminate everything are drawing so much life, states Vedenin. One can observe how nature evolves after a catastrophic event such as the second world war and how, in certain respects, marine life returns to the most dangerous places.

Man-made Features as Marine Environments

Man-made constructions such as sunken vessels, offshore windfarms, drilling platforms and pipelines can create replacements, restoring some of the removed habitat. This research demonstrates that munitions could be similarly positive – the bloom of life on those in the Lübeck Bay is expected to be duplicated elsewhere.

Between the late 1940s and the post-war period, 1.6 million tons of weapons were disposed of off the Germany's shoreline. Thousands of workers placed them in vessels; some were placed in designated locations, the remainder just thrown overboard while traveling. This is the initial instance experts have studied how ocean organisms has reacted.

Global Instances of Marine Adaptation

• In the US, decommissioned oil and gas structures have become reef ecosystems
• Sunken ships from the first world war have become environments for marine life along the Potomac River in the state of Maryland
• Military vehicle parts that have become environment to coral off Asan in Guam

These areas become even more important for organisms as the marine environments are increasingly stripped by fishing, bottom trawling and boat mooring. Sunken ships and weapons dump sites effectively function as refuges – they are not national parks, but almost any kind of human activity is prohibited, explains Vedenin. Consequently a lot of species that are usually scarce or diminishing, such as the Baltic cod, are thriving.

Coming Factors

Anywhere military conflict has occurred in the last century, nearby oceans are often containing munitions, says Vedenin. Millions of tonnes of volatile compounds remain in our seas.

The locations of these munitions are poorly mapped, in part because of national borders, secret military information and the reality that records are hidden in historic archives. They present an explosion and safety danger, as well as risk from the persistent leakage of hazardous substances.

As Germany and additional nations begin clearing these remains, scientists plan to safeguard the habitats that have developed in their vicinity. In the Lübeck Bay explosives are presently being removed.

Researchers recommend substitute these iron structures left from munitions with certain less dangerous, some safe materials, like maybe man-made habitats, says Vedenin.

He now hopes that what happens in the Bay of Lübeck creates a model for substituting habitats after munitions removal in different areas – because also the most harmful armaments can become scaffolding for marine organisms.