World War II Explosives, Torpedo Heads and Mines: The Way Ocean Creatures Flourishes on Dumped Weapons

In the slightly salty sea off the German coast rests a collection of World War II explosives, torpedo heads and mines. Dumped from barges at the end of the World War II and left behind, countless munitions have accumulated over the decades. They comprise a rusting blanket on the low-depth, muddy ocean floor of the Lübeck Bay in the western part of the Baltic Sea.

Over the years, the wartime weapons was ignored and neglected. A increasing amount of visitors traveled to the sandy beaches and calm waters for jetskiing, kiteboarding and amusement parks. Underwater, the weapons deteriorated.

We initially anticipated to see a desert, with no life because it was all contaminated, states the lead researcher.

When the first scientists went investigating to see what they were doing to the marine environment, the team anticipated finding a desert, with nothing living there because it was all poisoned, says the lead researcher.

What they discovered amazed them. Vedenin recounts his team members shouting with surprise when the submersible first relayed pictures. It was a great moment, he says.

Numerous of sea creatures had settled on the munitions, forming a revitalized marine community denser than the sea floor nearby.

This underwater metropolis was proof to the tenacity of marine life. Truly remarkable how much life we find in locations that are supposed to be toxic and harmful, he says.

More than 40 starfish had piled on to one exposed piece of TNT. They were living on iron containers, detonator compartments and storage boxes just centimetres from its explosive filling. Marine fish, crabs, sea anemones and bivalves were all discovered on the old munitions. It resembles a reef ecosystem in terms of the amount of animal life that was there, notes Vedenin.

Surprising Creature Concentration

An average of more than 40,000 organisms were dwelling on every square metre of the munitions, experts reported in their study on the finding. The surrounding area was much poorer in life, with only eight thousand creatures on every square metre.

It is paradoxical that items that are intended to kill all life are hosting so much life, states Vedenin. One can observe how nature adapts after a major disaster such as the second world war and how, in certain respects, marine life establishes itself to the most dangerous locations.

Man-made Features as Ocean Habitats

Artificial structures such as shipwrecks, wind turbines, drilling platforms and undersea pipes can provide substitutes, restoring some of the removed marine environment. This investigation shows that weapons could be equally positive – the explosion of marine organisms on those in the Bay of Lübeck is likely to be repeated elsewhere.

Between 1946 and the post-war period, 1.6m tonnes of arms were dumped off the German coast. Numerous of workers loaded them in barges; a portion were placed in allocated areas, others just thrown overboard while traveling. This is the first time researchers have studied how marine life has adapted.

Global Instances of Marine Transformation

• In the US, retired oil and gas structures have become marine habitats
• Sunken ships from the World War I have become habitats for creatures along the Potomac River in Maryland
• Tank tracks that have become home to coral off Asan beach in Guam

These areas become even more important for organisms as the seas are increasingly stripped by fishing, bottom trawling and boat mooring. Sunken ships and munitions areas essentially function as sanctuaries – they are not national parks, but virtually any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is restricted, says Vedenin. Therefore a numerous of marine species that are usually rare or decreasing, such as the Baltic cod, are thriving.

Future Considerations

Wherever warfare has happened in the recent history, surrounding seas are usually strewn with weapons, states Vedenin. Many millions of tonnes of dangerous substances lie in our seas.

The sites of these explosives are poorly documented, partly because of sovereign limits, secret military information and the reality that documents are hidden in historical records. They present an explosion and security danger, as well as risk from the continuous release of hazardous substances.

As the German government and additional nations embark on removing these remains, experts plan to safeguard the marine communities that have formed around them. In the Bay of Lübeck munitions are already being removed.

Researchers recommend replace these metal carcasses originating from munitions with certain less dangerous, various non-dangerous structures, like possibly artificial reefs, states Vedenin.

He now hopes that what happens in Lübeck sets a example for substituting structures after munitions removal in different areas – because even the most harmful weaponry can become framework for ocean ecosystems.