World War II Bombs, Torpedoes and Mines: How Marine Life Prosper on Abandoned Weapons

In the slightly salty waters off the German shoreline rests a wasteland of World War II explosives, torpedo heads and mines. Thrown off barges at the end of the World War II and left behind, countless munitions have accumulated over the decades. They form a corroding carpet on the low-depth, muddy seafloor of the Lübeck Bay in the western tip of the Baltic Sea.

Over the decades, the wartime weapons was overlooked and forgotten about. A growing number of tourists came to the coastal areas and tranquil sea for water sports, kite surfing and amusement parks. Beneath the surface, the munitions decayed.

Some of us expected to see a lifeless zone, with no life because it was all contaminated, says a scientist.

When the first scientists went looking to see what they were affecting to the ecosystem, some of us anticipated finding a lifeless zone, with no life because it was all toxic, states the lead researcher.

What they observed amazed them. Vedenin recounts his scientists reacting with shock when the submersible first relayed pictures. It was a memorable occasion, he notes.

Countless of ocean life had settled on the weapons, forming a renewed habitat more populous than the seabed nearby.

This underwater metropolis was testament to the persistence of marine life. It is actually surprising how much marine organisms we observe in places that are expected to be hazardous and risky, he states.

In excess of 40 sea stars had clustered on to one accessible piece of TNT. They were residing on metal shells, fuse pockets and carrying containers just centimetres from its dangerous content. Fish, crustaceans, sea anemones and bivalves were all found on the historic weapons. You could compare it with a reef ecosystem in terms of the abundance of animal life that was present, says Vedenin.

Surprising Creature Concentration

An average of more than forty thousand creatures were residing on every meter squared of the explosives, researchers wrote in their research on the discovery. The adjacent region was much poorer in life, with only eight thousand organisms on every meter squared.

It is paradoxical that things that are intended to destroy everything are hosting so much life, states Vedenin. You can see how nature adjusts after a major disaster such as the second world war and how, in certain respects, marine life establishes itself to the most hazardous places.

Man-made Structures as Marine Habitats

Man-made structures such as sunken vessels, offshore windfarms, drilling platforms and pipelines can create replacements, replacing some of the lost habitat. This study reveals that explosives could be similarly advantageous – the explosion of marine organisms on those in the Bay of Lübeck is likely to be duplicated in other locations.

Between 1946 and the post-war period, 1.6m tonnes of munitions were dumped off the Germany's shoreline. Thousands of individuals placed them in boats; a portion were dropped in designated locations, the remainder just thrown overboard while traveling. This is the first time experts have recorded how ocean organisms has responded.

Worldwide Examples of Marine Transformation

• In the United States, retired drilling platforms have transformed into reef ecosystems
• Shipwrecks from the first world war have become habitats for marine life along the Potomac in Maryland
• Military vehicle parts that have become habitat to coral off Asan in the Pacific island

These places become even more important for wildlife as the seas are increasingly denuded by commercial fishing, bottom trawling and anchoring. Shipwrecks and munitions areas essentially serve as sanctuaries – they are not national parks, but virtually any kind of human activity is banned, says Vedenin. As a result a numerous of marine species that are typically rare or declining, such as the Baltic cod, are flourishing.

Coming Issues

Wherever armed conflict has happened in the recent history, adjacent waters are usually littered with explosives, says Vedenin. Many millions of tons of explosive material rest in our oceans.

The positions of these munitions are inadequately recorded, partly because of sovereign limits, secret military information and the fact that archives are hidden in historical records. They create an explosion and safety risk, as well as danger from the ongoing release of poisonous compounds.

As Germany and additional nations begin removing these remains, scientists hope to safeguard the habitats that have developed nearby. In the Lübeck Bay munitions are currently being removed.

It would be wise to substitute these iron structures remaining from weapons with certain more secure, various safe structures, like perhaps concrete structures, states Vedenin.

He now wishes that what occurs in Lübeck creates a precedent for replacing habitats after explosive extraction elsewhere – because including the most harmful armaments can become framework for ocean ecosystems.