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

In the slightly salty waters off the German shoreline lies a collection of World War II explosives, torpedoes and naval mines. Discarded from boats at the end of the World War II and left behind, thousands munitions have become matted together over the decades. They form a corroding blanket on the low-depth, muddy seafloor of the Lübeck Bay in the western tip of the Baltic Sea.

Over the years, the Nazi arsenal was ignored and forgotten about. A growing number of visitors flocked to the coastal areas and tranquil sea for water sports, kiteboarding and amusement parks. Below the waves, the munitions decayed.

We initially thought to see a desert, with no life because it was all contaminated, explains a scientist.

When the team went investigating to see what they were affecting to the marine environment, the team thought they would find a lifeless zone, with nothing living there because it was all poisoned, explains a scientist.

What they observed amazed them. Vedenin recounts his colleagues shouting with surprise when the ROV first relayed pictures. This was a great moment, he says.

Countless of marine animals had established habitats on the explosives, developing a revitalized marine community richer than the sea floor surrounding it.

This underwater metropolis was proof to the resilience of marine life. Truly remarkable how much marine organisms we observe in places that are supposed to be hazardous and dangerous, he states.

In excess of 40 sea stars had piled on to one exposed chunk of TNT. They were residing on iron containers, detonator compartments and transport cases just a short distance from its explosive filling. Fish, crustaceans, sea anemones and mussels were all discovered on the old munitions. It resembles a marine reef in terms of the abundance of animal life that was there, says Vedenin.

Surprising Population Density

An mean of more than forty thousand organisms were residing on every meter squared of the weapons, researchers reported in their paper on the observation. The surrounding area was much sparser, with only eight thousand creatures on every meter squared.

It is paradoxical that items that are designed to destroy all life are hosting so much life, says Vedenin. One can observe how the natural world adapts after a catastrophic event such as the World War II and how, in some way, marine life finds its way to the most risky areas.

Man-made Structures as Marine Environments

Man-made constructions such as sunken vessels, wind turbines, oil rigs and pipelines can provide replacements, compensating for some of the removed marine environment. This research reveals that munitions could be similarly advantageous – the explosion of marine organisms on those in the Lübeck Bay is probable to be duplicated in different areas.

Between the late 1940s and 1948, 1.6m tons of weapons were disposed of off the German coast. Thousands of workers loaded them in barges; a portion were placed in allocated areas, others just dumped during transport. This is the initial instance experts have studied how marine life has reacted.

Global Examples of Ocean Adaptation

• In the United States, retired drilling platforms have turned into reef ecosystems
• Shipwrecks from the first world war have become habitats for wildlife along the Potomac in Maryland
• Military vehicle parts that have become habitat to coral off Asan in the Pacific island

These locations become even more important for marine life as the marine environments are increasingly depleted by fishing, bottom trawling and boat mooring. Sunken ships and explosive disposal locations practically function as protected areas – 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 flourishing.

Coming Factors

Wherever armed conflict has happened in the recent history, nearby oceans are often strewn with munitions, states Vedenin. Many millions of tonnes of explosive material lie in our marine environments.

The positions of these explosives are poorly recorded, in part because of national borders, restricted armed forces records and the situation that records are hidden in historical records. They pose an detonation and safety hazard, as well as danger from the persistent emission of hazardous substances.

As Germany and additional nations embark on clearing these remains, scientists aim to safeguard the habitats that have established around them. In the Lübeck Bay munitions are presently being removed.

It would be wise to substitute these metal carcasses originating from weapons with some safer, various safe structures, like perhaps man-made habitats, says Vedenin.

He now hopes that what occurs in Lübeck establishes a model for substituting habitats after weapon clearance in different areas – because including the most damaging weaponry can become framework for new life.