World War II Explosives, Torpedoes and Naval Mines: The Way Ocean Creatures Prosper on Discarded Armaments

In the slightly salty sea off the German coast lies a graveyard of World War II explosives, torpedoes and naval mines. Discarded from boats at the conclusion of the World War II and left behind, numerous munitions have fused into clusters over the years. They form a corroding carpet on the shallow, silty ocean floor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western tip of the Baltic.

Over the decades, the Nazi arsenal was overlooked and forgotten about. A growing number of tourists came to the sandy beaches and tranquil sea for jetskiing, kiteboarding and entertainment venues. Beneath the surface, the munitions eroded.

Researchers anticipated to see a desert, with nothing living there because it was all toxic, says a scientist.

When the initial researchers went investigating to see what they were affecting to the ecosystem, researchers expected to see a lifeless zone, with no life because it was all toxic, states Andrey Vedenin.

What they observed surprised them. Vedenin remembers his team members shouting with surprise when the ROV first sent the images back. This was a remarkable experience, he recalls.

Thousands of ocean life had made their homes on the weapons, creating a revitalized marine community more populous than the sea floor around it.

This underwater metropolis was proof to the persistence of life. Truly astonishing how much life we observe in areas that are supposed to be dangerous and risky, he explains.

More than 40 starfish had gathered on to one exposed chunk of explosive material. They were living on iron containers, detonator compartments and storage boxes just a short distance from its dangerous content. Marine fish, crabs, sea anemones and mussels were all discovered on the historic weapons. It resembles a reef ecosystem in terms of the amount of animal life that was present, states Vedenin.

Unexpected Population Density

An mean of more than 40,000 organisms were dwelling on every meter squared of the explosives, scientists reported in their research on the finding. The surrounding area was much less diverse, with only eight thousand creatures on every square metre.

It is paradoxical that items that are meant to destroy everything are hosting so much life, states Vedenin. It's evident how nature evolves after a catastrophic event such as the second world war and how, in certain respects, life returns to the most dangerous places.

Man-made Features as Marine Habitats

Man-made structures such as sunken vessels, wind turbines, drilling platforms and pipelines can create replacements, replacing some of the destroyed marine environment. This study reveals that munitions could be equally advantageous – the explosion of life on those in the Lübeck Bay is probable to be found in different areas.

Between the late 1940s and the post-war period, 1.6m tonnes of arms were discarded off the German shoreline. Numerous of individuals transported them in vessels; a portion were dropped in specific locations, the remainder just dumped en route. This is the initial instance experts have documented how marine life has adapted.

Global Instances of Marine Adaptation

• In the US, retired energy installations have transformed into marine habitats
• Shipwrecks from the first world war have become habitats for wildlife along the Potomac River in Maryland
• Tank tracks that have become habitat to coral off Asan beach in the Pacific island

These areas become even more crucial for marine life as the marine environments are increasingly stripped by fishing, seafloor dredging and anchoring. Sunken ships and weapons dump sites effectively act as protected areas – they are not official reserves, but nearly any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is banned, says Vedenin. Consequently a many of organisms that are otherwise uncommon or decreasing, such as the cod fish, are prospering.

Future Considerations

Wherever armed conflict has happened in the last century, adjacent waters are typically littered with weapons, states Vedenin. Millions of tonnes of explosive material lie in our oceans.

The sites of these munitions are inadequately recorded, in part because of sovereign limits, restricted defense data and the reality that records are buried in historic archives. They pose an explosion and safety risk, as well as risk from the ongoing leakage of hazardous substances.

As Germany and other countries start clearing these remains, researchers plan to protect the ecosystems that have established in their vicinity. In the Lübeck Bay munitions are already being removed.

It would be wise to replace these iron structures originating from weapons with certain more secure, some safe objects, like maybe man-made habitats, suggests Vedenin.

He presently wishes that what transpires in the Bay of Lübeck sets a precedent for substituting material after weapon clearance in different areas – because even the most destructive armaments can become scaffolding for new life.