World War II Munitions, Torpedoes and Mines: The Way Ocean Creatures Thrives on Abandoned Armaments

In the slightly salty sea off the German coast lies a collection of World War II explosives, torpedo heads and mines. Thrown off barges at the end of the second world war and forgotten about, thousands weapons have become matted together over the decades. They comprise a rusting blanket on the shallow, muddy ocean floor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western part of the Baltic.

Over the decades, the wartime weapons was ignored and neglected. A growing number of visitors traveled to the coastal areas and tranquil sea for water sports, kite surfing and entertainment venues. Beneath the surface, the weapons eroded.

Researchers anticipated to see a desert, with no organisms because it was all poisoned, says a scientist.

When the first scientists went investigating to see what they were doing to the marine environment, the team thought they would find a desert, with nothing living there because it was all toxic, states Andrey Vedenin.

What they observed astonished them. Vedenin remembers his team members reacting with shock when the underwater vehicle first transmitted footage. It was a memorable occasion, he notes.

Countless of ocean life had made their homes on the explosives, forming a regenerated ecosystem more populous than the seabed around it.

This marine city was testament to the persistence of life. It is actually surprising how much marine organisms we observe in locations that are considered toxic and harmful, he explains.

More than 40 starfish had piled on to one exposed piece of TNT. They were residing on steel casings, ignition chambers and storage boxes just a short distance from its dangerous content. Fish, crustaceans, anemones and mussels were all observed on the historic weapons. It's similar to a reef ecosystem in terms of the quantity of fauna that was inhabiting the area, says Vedenin.

Remarkable Population Density

An average of more than 40,000 creatures were residing on every square metre of the munitions, researchers wrote in their study on the finding. The adjacent region was much poorer in life, with only eight thousand individuals on every meter squared.

It is surprising that items that are designed to eliminate all life are drawing so much life, explains Vedenin. It's evident how nature adjusts after a catastrophic event such as the World War II and how, in certain respects, life finds its way to the most hazardous areas.

Artificial Structures as Marine Environments

Artificial constructions such as shipwrecks, wind turbines, drilling platforms and pipelines can provide replacements, replacing some of the removed marine environment. This investigation reveals that weapons could be similarly advantageous – the bloom of marine organisms on those in the Lübeck Bay is likely to be duplicated elsewhere.

Between the late 1940s and the post-war period, 1.6m tons of munitions were dumped off the Germany's shoreline. Countless of workers placed them in boats; some were deposited in allocated locations, others just discarded at sea en route. This is the initial instance scientists have documented how marine life has adapted.

Worldwide Examples of Ocean Transformation

• In the United States, decommissioned oil and gas structures have transformed into reef ecosystems
• Sunken ships from the first world war have become environments for creatures along the Potomac in the state of Maryland
• Tank tracks that have become habitat to reef-building organisms off Asan beach in the Pacific island

These areas become even more important for wildlife as the oceans are increasingly depleted by fishing, seafloor dredging and anchoring. Shipwrecks and munitions areas effectively act as refuges – they are not official reserves, but almost any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is restricted, states Vedenin. Therefore a numerous of organisms that are typically uncommon or decreasing, such as the Baltic cod, are flourishing.

Future Factors

Wherever armed conflict has occurred in the last century, surrounding seas are typically littered with explosives, explains Vedenin. Millions of tonnes of explosive material remain in our oceans.

The positions of these explosives are insufficiently documented, in part because of national borders, classified armed forces records and the fact that archives are hidden in historical records. They present an explosion and security risk, as well as danger from the persistent leakage of toxic chemicals.

As Germany and other countries begin extracting these relics, researchers hope to preserve the habitats that have formed nearby. In the Bay of Lübeck munitions are presently being extracted.

It would be wise to substitute these metal carcasses originating from weapons with certain safer, various harmless objects, like possibly concrete structures, states Vedenin.

He now wishes that what occurs in the Bay of Lübeck sets a model for substituting structures after munitions removal in different areas – because including the most destructive explosives can become framework for marine organisms.