World War II Munitions, Torpedo Heads and Naval Mines: How Marine Life Flourishes on Discarded Weapons

In the brackish sea off the German coast rests a collection of Nazi bombs, torpedoes and naval mines. Discarded from vessels at the end of the World War II and left behind, thousands weapons have fused into clusters over the decades. They comprise a corroding layer on the shallow, muddy seafloor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western tip of the Baltic.

Over the decades, the wartime weapons was ignored and forgotten about. A growing number of tourists came to the coastal areas and tranquil sea for jetskiing, kiteboarding and entertainment venues. Underwater, the weapons decayed.

Researchers expected to see a desert, with nothing living there because it was all toxic, states the lead researcher.

When the initial researchers went investigating to see what they were doing to the ecosystem, some of us anticipated finding a lifeless zone, with no organisms because it was all poisoned, says the lead researcher.

What they found surprised them. Vedenin remembers his scientists reacting with shock when the ROV first transmitted footage. That moment was a remarkable experience, he says.

Thousands of sea creatures had established habitats amid the munitions, creating a revitalized marine community denser than the ocean bottom nearby.

This marine city was testament to the tenacity of life. It is actually surprising how much life we find in areas that are expected to be dangerous and dangerous, he explains.

In excess of 40 sea stars had gathered on to one accessible chunk of TNT. They were living on iron containers, ignition chambers and transport cases just centimetres from its volatile core. Fish, crabs, anemones and bivalves were all discovered on the old munitions. You could compare it with a marine reef in terms of the amount of fauna that was present, says Vedenin.

Remarkable Population Density

An average of more than 40,000 animals were dwelling on every square metre of the munitions, scientists wrote in their study on the finding. The adjacent region was much less diverse, with only 8,000 individuals on every square metre.

It is ironic that objects that are intended to kill all life are attracting so much marine organisms, explains Vedenin. One can observe how nature adapts after a catastrophic event such as the second world war and how, in some way, life establishes itself to the most risky locations.

Artificial Structures as Ocean Environments

Artificial features such as shipwrecks, offshore windfarms, drilling platforms and undersea pipes can provide alternatives, compensating for some of the destroyed habitat. This research reveals that explosives could be similarly advantageous – the explosion of marine organisms on those in the Lübeck Bay is expected to be duplicated in other locations.

Between 1946 and the post-war period, 1.6 million tonnes of arms were disposed of off the Germany's shoreline. Thousands of workers transported them in boats; a portion were deposited in allocated sites, the remainder just discarded at sea during transport. This is the first time researchers have studied how marine life has adapted.

Worldwide Examples of Marine Adaptation

• In the United States, decommissioned drilling platforms have transformed into marine habitats
• Shipwrecks from the first world war have become habitats for wildlife along the Potomac in Maryland
• Military vehicle parts that have become environment to coral off Asan beach in the Pacific island

These locations become even more valuable for wildlife as the marine environments are increasingly depleted by commercial fishing, seafloor dredging and boat mooring. Shipwrecks and explosive disposal locations effectively serve as sanctuaries – they are not national parks, but almost any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is restricted, explains Vedenin. As a result a many of organisms that are otherwise rare or diminishing, such as the cod fish, are flourishing.

Coming Considerations

Anywhere warfare has happened in the recent history, nearby oceans are typically littered with weapons, explains Vedenin. Millions of tons of volatile compounds remain in our oceans.

The sites of these weapons are insufficiently documented, partly because of sovereign limits, restricted armed forces records and the fact that documents are buried in old files. They present an explosion and security risk, as well as threat from the persistent leakage of poisonous compounds.

As Germany and different states start removing these artifacts, scientists hope to protect the marine communities that have established in their vicinity. In the Lübeck Bay explosives are currently being cleared.

It would be wise to substitute these steel remains originating from weapons with certain less dangerous, various harmless structures, like possibly artificial reefs, suggests Vedenin.

He now aspires that what happens in Lübeck sets a model for replacing habitats after munitions removal in different areas – because even the most destructive weaponry can become scaffolding for ocean ecosystems.