World War II Munitions, Torpedo Heads and Naval Mines: The Way Marine Life Flourishes on Dumped Armaments

In the brackish sea off the Germany's shoreline rests a collection of World War II explosives, torpedoes and mines. Discarded from boats at the conclusion of the second world war and forgotten about, countless munitions have fused into clusters over the decades. They form a rusting blanket on the shallow, silty seafloor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western part of the Baltic.

Over the decades, the Nazi arsenal was overlooked and forgotten about. A growing number of visitors came to the sandy beaches and tranquil sea for water sports, kiteboarding and amusement parks. Underwater, the munitions eroded.

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

When the initial researchers went looking to see what they were affecting to the ecosystem, some of us thought they would find a desert, with no life because it was all contaminated, explains a scientist.

What they found surprised them. Vedenin remembers his team members exclaiming in amazement when the underwater vehicle first sent the images back. That moment was a memorable occasion, he notes.

Countless of marine animals had settled amid the explosives, creating a regenerated ecosystem denser than the seabed surrounding it.

This underwater metropolis was proof to the tenacity of marine life. Indeed astonishing how much life we observe in places that are supposed to be toxic and dangerous, he says.

In excess of 40 starfish had piled on to one visible piece of explosive material. They were living on metal shells, fuse pockets and storage boxes just a short distance from its explosive filling. Fish, crabs, anemones and mussels were all found on the old munitions. You could compare it with a reef ecosystem in terms of the amount of animal life that was there, notes Vedenin.

Unexpected Creature Concentration

An mean of more than 40,000 organisms were residing on every square metre of the explosives, experts documented in their study on the observation. The surrounding area was much less diverse, with only eight thousand organisms on every meter squared.

It is surprising that things that are intended to kill all life are hosting 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, marine life establishes itself to the most dangerous locations.

Artificial Structures as Ocean Habitats

Man-made features such as shipwrecks, wind turbines, oil rigs and undersea pipes can create replacements, compensating for some of the removed marine environment. This study reveals that munitions could be similarly beneficial – the explosion of marine organisms on those in the Bay of Lübeck is likely to be duplicated elsewhere.

Between 1946 and the post-war period, 1.6m tonnes of weapons were disposed of off the German shoreline. Thousands of people loaded them in barges; a portion were deposited in specific areas, the remainder just discarded at sea while traveling. This is the initial instance experts have recorded how ocean organisms has adapted.

Global Examples of Marine Adaptation

• In the United States, decommissioned oil and gas structures have become marine habitats
• Shipwrecks from the World War I have become habitats for marine life along the Potomac in Maryland
• Tank tracks that have become home to coral off Asan beach in Guam

These locations become even more important for organisms as the oceans are increasingly denuded by commercial fishing, seafloor dredging and boat mooring. Sunken ships and weapons dump sites effectively act as protected areas – they are not official reserves, but virtually any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is restricted, explains Vedenin. Therefore a numerous of species that are usually uncommon or declining, such as the cod fish, are prospering.

Future Considerations

Anywhere warfare has happened in the past 100 years, nearby oceans are usually littered with explosives, explains Vedenin. Many millions of tons of volatile compounds rest in our oceans.

The positions of these explosives are poorly recorded, partially because of international boundaries, classified defense data and the fact that records are buried in historic archives. They create an explosion and security hazard, as well as risk from the continuous release of poisonous compounds.

As Germany and different states start clearing these relics, experts plan to safeguard the marine communities that have developed around them. In the Bay of Lübeck explosives are currently being extracted.

It would be wise to replace these iron structures left from weapons with some safer, some non-dangerous materials, like maybe artificial reefs, says Vedenin.

He currently aspires that what transpires in Lübeck sets a precedent for substituting habitats after explosive extraction in different areas – because including the most harmful explosives can become framework for marine organisms.