World War II Explosives, Torpedo Heads and Mines: The Way Marine Life Prosper on Discarded Weapons

In the slightly salty sea off the German shoreline lies a wasteland of Nazi bombs, torpedo heads and mines. Dumped from boats at the end of the second world war and left behind, numerous explosives have fused into clusters over the years. They comprise a rusting carpet on the low-depth, silty ocean floor of the Lübeck Bay in the western tip of the Baltic.

Over the decades, the explosive stockpile was overlooked and forgotten about. A increasing amount of visitors flocked to the sandy beaches and calm waters for jetskiing, kiteboarding and amusement parks. Beneath the surface, the weapons eroded.

Researchers thought to see a barren area, with no life because it was all contaminated, explains the lead researcher.

When the initial researchers went investigating to see what they were doing to the marine environment, some of us anticipated finding a barren area, with nothing living there because it was all toxic, states Andrey Vedenin.

What they discovered amazed them. Vedenin recounts his team members reacting with shock when the ROV first transmitted footage. This was a memorable occasion, he says.

Numerous of marine animals had settled on the weapons, forming a renewed ecosystem denser than the seabed surrounding it.

This underwater metropolis was proof to the tenacity of life. Indeed surprising how much life we find in places that are supposed to be hazardous and risky, he states.

More than 40 starfish had clustered on to one visible piece of explosive material. They were dwelling on iron containers, ignition chambers and storage boxes just a short distance from its dangerous content. Marine fish, crustaceans, sea anemones and mussels were all discovered on the discarded explosives. You could compare it with a coral reef in terms of the abundance of animal life that was present, states Vedenin.

Surprising Creature Concentration

An mean of more than 40,000 organisms were living on every meter squared of the weapons, researchers documented in their research on the observation. The surrounding area was much less diverse, with only 8,000 individuals on every meter squared.

It is ironic that objects that are meant to kill all life are hosting so much marine organisms, states Vedenin. One can observe how the natural world evolves after a catastrophic event such as the World War II and how, in certain respects, marine life establishes itself to the most hazardous places.

Man-made Features as Marine Environments

Man-made constructions such as sunken vessels, offshore windfarms, oil rigs and pipelines can offer replacements, restoring some of the destroyed habitat. This investigation shows that weapons could be equally positive – the bloom of life on those in the Lübeck Bay is probable to be found elsewhere.

Between 1946 and 1948, 1.6m tonnes of munitions were disposed of off the Germany's coast. Countless of workers loaded them in boats; a portion were dropped in allocated areas, the remainder just discarded at sea while traveling. This is the initial instance scientists have recorded how ocean organisms has responded.

Worldwide Instances of Ocean Adaptation

• In the US, retired energy installations have turned into reef ecosystems
• Submerged vessels from the World War I have become homes for wildlife along the Potomac in Maryland
• Military vehicle parts 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 stripped by fishing, bottom trawling and anchoring. Sunken ships and weapons dump sites essentially act as protected areas – they are not national parks, but virtually any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is prohibited, explains Vedenin. Therefore a many of species that are otherwise scarce or diminishing, such as the cod fish, are thriving.

Future Issues

Wherever warfare has occurred in the past 100 years, adjacent waters are often littered with explosives, states Vedenin. Millions of tons of explosive material lie in our seas.

The locations of these explosives are poorly documented, in part because of international boundaries, classified military information and the situation that records are buried in historic archives. They pose an explosion and safety danger, as well as threat from the continuous release of hazardous substances.

As the German government and other countries begin extracting these artifacts, researchers hope to protect the marine communities that have established in their vicinity. In the Bay of Lübeck explosives are currently being removed.

Researchers recommend substitute these steel remains remaining from weapons with certain safer, some safe materials, like possibly concrete structures, suggests Vedenin.

He currently hopes that what happens in Lübeck sets a model for replacing structures after munitions removal in other locations – because including the most harmful weaponry can become scaffolding for ocean ecosystems.