World War II Munitions, Torpedoes and Mines: The Way Marine Life Flourishes on Discarded Armaments

In the brackish waters off the German coast rests a collection of Nazi bombs, torpedo heads and mines. Dumped from vessels at the end of the World War II and neglected, thousands explosives have become matted together over the decades. They create a corroding blanket on the low-depth, silty ocean floor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western part of the Baltic Sea.

Over the years, the wartime weapons was ignored and neglected. A increasing amount of tourists traveled to the coastal areas and tranquil sea for jetskiing, kiteboarding and amusement parks. Below the waves, the weapons decayed.

Some of us anticipated to see a barren area, with nothing living there because it was all toxic, states a scientist.

When the initial researchers 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 poisoned, says the lead researcher.

What they observed surprised them. Vedenin recalls his colleagues reacting with shock when the submersible first transmitted footage. That moment was a remarkable experience, he notes.

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

This ocean community was testament to the tenacity of marine life. Truly remarkable how much life we discover in places that are considered hazardous and harmful, he states.

In excess of 40 starfish had clustered on to one visible fragment of TNT. They were dwelling on steel casings, detonator compartments and storage boxes just centimetres from its dangerous content. Fish, crustaceans, sea anemones and mussels were all discovered on the historic weapons. You could compare it with a reef ecosystem in terms of the amount of animal life that was there, says Vedenin.

Remarkable Population Density

An mean of more than forty thousand organisms were residing on every square metre of the explosives, experts wrote in their paper on the discovery. The nearby seabed was much sparser, with only 8,000 organisms on every square metre.

It is surprising that things that are meant to eliminate everything are attracting so much marine organisms, explains Vedenin. You can see how nature evolves after a devastating occurrence such as the World War II and how, in some way, marine life finds its way to the most dangerous areas.

Artificial Structures as Marine Environments

Man-made features such as shipwrecks, wind turbines, oil rigs and undersea pipes can create alternatives, compensating for some of the removed habitat. This investigation demonstrates that munitions could be equally advantageous – the proliferation of marine organisms on those in the Bay of Lübeck is expected to be found elsewhere.

Between 1946 and the post-war period, 1.6m tons of weapons were disposed of off the German shoreline. Thousands of people transported them in vessels; a portion were dropped in allocated sites, the remainder just dumped en route. This is the first time experts have recorded how ocean organisms has reacted.

Global Instances of Ocean Adaptation

• In the United States, retired drilling platforms 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
• Military vehicle parts that have become habitat to reef-building organisms off Asan in Guam

These places become even more crucial for marine life as the marine environments are increasingly denuded by commercial fishing, bottom trawling and anchoring. Sunken ships and weapons dump sites essentially act as sanctuaries – they are not national parks, but almost any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is prohibited, explains Vedenin. Therefore a lot of marine species that are usually rare or diminishing, such as the cod fish, are flourishing.

Coming Issues

Anywhere warfare has taken place in the recent history, surrounding seas are often strewn with munitions, states Vedenin. Many millions of tons of dangerous substances remain in our seas.

The sites of these munitions are poorly documented, partially because of international boundaries, classified military information and the fact that records are hidden in old files. They present an detonation and security risk, as well as danger from the persistent leakage of toxic chemicals.

As the German government and additional nations start extracting these relics, researchers aim to safeguard the marine communities that have developed in their vicinity. In the Lübeck Bay weapons are currently being extracted.

It would be wise to replace these iron structures left from weapons with some more secure, various safe structures, like maybe man-made habitats, states Vedenin.

He currently hopes that what happens in Lübeck creates a example for substituting material after munitions removal elsewhere – because also the most harmful explosives can become foundation for marine organisms.