World War II Explosives, Torpedo Heads and Mines: How Ocean Creatures Flourishes on Discarded Weapons

In the slightly salty sea off the German coast rests a wasteland of Nazi bombs, torpedoes and mines. Dumped from barges at the conclusion of the second world war and forgotten about, numerous weapons have become matted together over the years. They form a corroding blanket on the shallow, silty ocean floor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western tip of the Baltic Sea.

Over the decades, the Nazi arsenal was ignored and forgotten about. A increasing amount of tourists flocked to the coastal areas and tranquil sea for water sports, kiteboarding and entertainment venues. Underwater, the weapons deteriorated.

Some of us anticipated to see a barren area, with no organisms because it was all toxic, says Andrey Vedenin.

When the first scientists went searching to see what they were affecting to the ecosystem, some of us thought they would find a lifeless zone, with no life because it was all contaminated, states Andrey Vedenin.

What they found surprised them. Vedenin recounts his scientists shouting with surprise when the underwater vehicle first sent the images back. It was a remarkable experience, he recalls.

Countless of sea creatures had made their homes on the munitions, developing a revitalized ecosystem richer than the sea floor around it.

This underwater metropolis was proof to the persistence of life. Indeed astonishing how much marine organisms we find in locations that are supposed to be dangerous and harmful, he states.

More than 40 starfish had piled on to one visible chunk of TNT. They were living on steel casings, detonator compartments and transport cases just a short distance from its volatile core. Fish, crustaceans, sea anemones and mussels were all found on the historic weapons. You could compare it with a marine reef in terms of the amount of animal life that was there, says Vedenin.

Remarkable Population Density

An mean of more than 40,000 creatures were residing on every square metre of the weapons, scientists documented in their study on the finding. The surrounding area was much sparser, with only eight thousand organisms on every meter squared.

It is surprising that things that are meant to eliminate all life are hosting so much marine organisms, says Vedenin. You can see how nature adjusts after a major disaster such as the World War II and how, in certain respects, life finds its way to the most risky places.

Man-made Structures as Marine Habitats

Artificial constructions such as sunken vessels, wind turbines, drilling platforms and undersea pipes can create alternatives, restoring some of the removed habitat. This investigation reveals that explosives could be comparably beneficial – the proliferation of life on those in the Lübeck Bay is expected to be duplicated elsewhere.

Between the late 1940s and 1948, 1.6 million tons of munitions were discarded off the German shoreline. Countless of people placed them in boats; a portion were deposited in allocated areas, others just dumped during transport. This is the first time scientists have studied how marine life has adapted.

Global Examples of Marine Transformation

• In the US, retired oil and gas structures have turned into reef ecosystems
• Sunken ships from the first world war have become homes for marine life along the Potomac in the state of Maryland
• Tank tracks that have become home to reef-building organisms off Asan in Guam

These areas become even more valuable for organisms as the marine environments are increasingly depleted by fishing, bottom trawling and boat mooring. Shipwrecks and explosive disposal locations practically act as sanctuaries – they are not national parks, but almost any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is restricted, says Vedenin. Consequently a numerous of organisms that are otherwise scarce or decreasing, such as the cod fish, are flourishing.

Future Factors

Anywhere military conflict has happened in the recent history, nearby oceans are typically strewn with explosives, states Vedenin. Millions of tonnes of dangerous substances rest in our marine environments.

The locations of these munitions are inadequately documented, partly because of sovereign limits, secret armed forces records and the reality that records are hidden in historical records. They create an explosion and safety danger, as well as threat from the persistent leakage of poisonous compounds.

As the German government and other countries embark on extracting these remains, experts aim to safeguard the habitats that have developed nearby. In the Lübeck Bay munitions are already being removed.

We should substitute these iron structures originating from munitions with some less dangerous, some harmless objects, like possibly man-made habitats, states Vedenin.

He now hopes that what happens in the Bay of Lübeck establishes a precedent for replacing material after explosive extraction elsewhere – because also the most damaging explosives can become scaffolding for marine organisms.