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

In the brackish sea off the Germany's coast sits a wasteland of World War II explosives, torpedoes and naval mines. Discarded from vessels at the end of the World War II and forgotten about, numerous weapons have accumulated over the decades. They form a corroding blanket on the shallow, 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 came to the sandy beaches and calm waters for water sports, kite surfing and amusement parks. Underwater, the weapons decayed.

We initially anticipated to see a barren area, with no organisms because it was all poisoned, states the lead researcher.

When the first scientists went investigating to see what they were affecting to the ecosystem, some of us expected to see a barren area, with no life because it was all toxic, explains the lead researcher.

What they discovered surprised them. Vedenin recalls his team members exclaiming in amazement when the underwater vehicle first sent the images back. This was a remarkable experience, he recalls.

Numerous of marine animals had made their homes on the munitions, creating a revitalized ecosystem more populous than the sea floor around it.

This underwater metropolis was proof to the tenacity of marine life. Truly astonishing how much life we discover in locations that are considered toxic and dangerous, he states.

More than 40 starfish had piled on to one visible piece of explosive material. They were residing on steel casings, ignition chambers and carrying containers just centimetres from its dangerous content. Fish, crabs, anemones and mussels were all discovered on the historic weapons. It's similar to a reef ecosystem in terms of the quantity of creatures that was present, says Vedenin.

Unexpected Population Density

An mean of more than forty thousand organisms were dwelling on every meter squared of the weapons, scientists wrote in their study on the observation. The nearby seabed was much sparser, with only 8,000 organisms on every meter squared.

It is surprising that things that are designed to eliminate everything are attracting so much life, explains Vedenin. It's evident how nature adjusts after a major disaster such as the second world war and how, in some way, life finds its way to the most dangerous places.

Artificial Features as Ocean Environments

Man-made features such as shipwrecks, offshore windfarms, drilling platforms and undersea pipes can provide replacements, compensating for some of the destroyed marine environment. This investigation reveals that munitions could be similarly advantageous – the proliferation of life on those in the Bay of Lübeck is probable to be repeated in other locations.

Between 1946 and 1948, 1.6m tons of weapons were dumped off the German coast. Countless of people placed them in barges; a portion were deposited in designated areas, others just discarded at sea during transport. This is the initial instance scientists have studied how marine life has reacted.

Global Examples of Ocean Transformation

• In the US, retired energy installations have transformed into coral reefs
• Sunken ships from the World War I have become homes for wildlife along the Potomac River in the state of Maryland
• Tank tracks that have become home to reef-building organisms off Asan beach in the Pacific island

These places become even more valuable for organisms as the marine environments are increasingly denuded by commercial fishing, seafloor dredging and anchoring. Shipwrecks and explosive disposal locations practically act as refuges – they are not official reserves, but nearly any kind of human activity is prohibited, explains Vedenin. As a result a many of organisms that are usually uncommon or declining, such as the cod fish, are prospering.

Future Issues

Anywhere warfare has occurred in the recent history, nearby oceans are often strewn with munitions, says Vedenin. Millions of tons of volatile compounds remain in our marine environments.

The positions of these weapons are poorly mapped, in part because of sovereign limits, secret armed forces records and the fact that documents are stored in historical records. They present an detonation and safety danger, as well as threat from the continuous leakage of hazardous substances.

As Germany and additional nations start removing these remains, researchers hope to preserve the marine communities that have established nearby. In the Lübeck Bay explosives are currently being extracted.

It would be wise to substitute these steel remains remaining from weapons with certain more secure, some safe objects, like perhaps artificial reefs, suggests Vedenin.

He currently hopes that what happens in the Bay of Lübeck creates a example for substituting material after weapon clearance in other locations – because including the most damaging armaments can become scaffolding for marine organisms.