World War II Explosives, Torpedo Heads and Mines: How Marine Life Prosper on Abandoned Weapons

In the brackish waters off the Germany's coast lies a wasteland of World War II explosives, torpedo heads and mines. Discarded from barges at the conclusion of the World War II and left behind, numerous munitions have accumulated over the decades. They comprise a corroding carpet on the low-depth, silty ocean floor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western tip of the Baltic Sea.

Over the decades, the Nazi arsenal was overlooked and neglected. A increasing amount of visitors came to the coastal areas and tranquil sea for water sports, kiteboarding and entertainment venues. Underwater, the munitions decayed.

Researchers thought to see a lifeless zone, with no life because it was all poisoned, says Andrey Vedenin.

When the first scientists went searching to see what they were doing to the marine environment, the team anticipated finding a barren area, with nothing living there because it was all contaminated, states Andrey Vedenin.

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

Countless of ocean life had made their homes on the munitions, forming a regenerated habitat richer than the seabed around it.

This underwater metropolis was testament to the resilience of marine life. Indeed astonishing how much marine organisms we observe in places that are considered hazardous and risky, he explains.

Over 40 starfish had piled on to one accessible piece of TNT. They were living on metal shells, fuse pockets and carrying containers just a short distance from its dangerous content. Marine fish, crustaceans, anemones and bivalves were all found on the discarded explosives. You could compare it with a marine reef in terms of the amount of animal life that was there, says Vedenin.

Unexpected Population Density

An mean of more than forty thousand organisms were residing on every meter squared of the munitions, researchers wrote in their paper on the discovery. The nearby seabed was much less diverse, with only 8,000 individuals on every meter squared.

It is ironic that objects that are meant to destroy all life are hosting so much marine organisms, says Vedenin. One can observe how nature adapts after a major disaster such as the second world war and how, in some way, marine life finds its way to the most dangerous locations.

Man-made Structures as Ocean Habitats

Artificial features such as sunken vessels, offshore windfarms, drilling platforms and undersea pipes can create alternatives, compensating for some of the lost habitat. This study demonstrates that weapons could be comparably positive – the bloom of marine organisms on those in the Lübeck Bay is probable to be found in different areas.

Between 1946 and the post-war period, 1.6 million tons of arms were dumped off the German coast. Thousands of individuals transported them in vessels; a portion were placed in specific sites, others just thrown overboard during transport. This is the initial instance experts have recorded how ocean organisms has responded.

Worldwide Examples of Marine Adaptation

• In the United States, retired energy installations have turned into marine habitats
• Shipwrecks from the World War I have become environments for wildlife along the Potomac River in Maryland
• Military vehicle parts that have become environment to reef-building organisms off Asan in Guam

These places become even more valuable for organisms as the marine environments are increasingly denuded by fishing, seafloor dredging and anchoring. Shipwrecks and explosive disposal locations effectively function as refuges – they are not official reserves, but virtually any kind of human activity is restricted, explains Vedenin. Therefore a lot of organisms that are typically rare or decreasing, such as the Baltic cod, are flourishing.

Coming Issues

Anywhere armed conflict has occurred in the recent history, nearby oceans are typically containing munitions, explains Vedenin. Many millions of tons of volatile compounds remain in our seas.

The sites of these weapons are insufficiently recorded, partly because of national borders, restricted armed forces records and the fact that documents are stored in historic archives. They present an explosion and security danger, as well as threat from the continuous leakage of toxic chemicals.

As the German government and additional nations embark on extracting these relics, researchers hope to protect the habitats that have developed around them. In the Lübeck Bay explosives are presently being extracted.

We should replace these metal carcasses remaining from weapons with certain less dangerous, some harmless objects, like perhaps man-made habitats, states Vedenin.

He currently aspires that what happens in the Bay of Lübeck sets a precedent for replacing structures after weapon clearance in different areas – because also the most destructive armaments can become foundation for ocean ecosystems.