World War II Munitions, Torpedo Heads and Mines: How Ocean Creatures Thrives on Discarded Armaments

In the brackish waters off the German coast sits a wasteland of World War II explosives, torpedo heads and naval mines. Discarded from vessels at the conclusion of the second world war and neglected, thousands munitions have fused into clusters over the years. They comprise a corroding blanket on the low-depth, muddy seafloor of the Lübeck Bay in the western tip of the Baltic.

Over the years, the wartime weapons was overlooked and forgotten about. A growing number of visitors flocked to the sandy beaches and calm waters for jetskiing, kite surfing and amusement parks. Beneath the surface, the munitions deteriorated.

Researchers anticipated to see a desert, with no life because it was all toxic, says Andrey Vedenin.

When the team went searching to see what they were affecting to the ecosystem, researchers expected to see a desert, with no life because it was all toxic, says Andrey Vedenin.

What they observed astonished them. Vedenin recalls his colleagues shouting with surprise when the ROV first sent the images back. This was a memorable occasion, he says.

Numerous of sea creatures had made their homes amid the munitions, creating a regenerated marine community more populous than the seabed nearby.

This marine city was proof to the tenacity of life. Indeed remarkable how much life we find in areas that are expected to be dangerous and dangerous, he states.

More than 40 sea stars had clustered on to one exposed fragment of TNT. They were dwelling on metal shells, fuse pockets and transport cases just a short distance from its explosive filling. Marine fish, crabs, anemones and bivalves were all found on the discarded explosives. It's similar to a coral reef in terms of the quantity of fauna that was inhabiting the area, says Vedenin.

Unexpected Population Density

An average of more than forty thousand animals were dwelling on every square metre of the explosives, scientists wrote in their paper on the finding. The adjacent region was much poorer in life, with only eight thousand individuals on every meter squared.

It is ironic that items that are meant to kill everything are hosting so much marine organisms, says Vedenin. One can observe how nature adapts after a major disaster such as the second world war and how, in some way, life finds its way to the most dangerous places.

Man-made Features as Ocean Habitats

Man-made structures such as sunken vessels, offshore windfarms, drilling platforms and undersea pipes can offer alternatives, replacing some of the destroyed marine environment. This research reveals that weapons could be similarly positive – the proliferation of life on those in the Lübeck Bay is expected to be duplicated elsewhere.

Between the late 1940s and the post-war period, 1.6 million tons of weapons were discarded off the Germany's coast. Countless of workers loaded them in boats; some were deposited in allocated sites, others just discarded at sea while traveling. This is the initial instance scientists have documented how marine life has adapted.

Global Examples of Marine Transformation

• In the United States, decommissioned drilling platforms have turned into coral reefs
• Submerged vessels from the World War I have become habitats for marine life along the Potomac in Maryland
• Tank tracks that have become habitat to coral off Asan 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 weapons dump sites effectively function as protected areas – they are not national parks, but virtually any kind of human activity is banned, explains Vedenin. Therefore a many of marine species that are typically uncommon or diminishing, such as the Baltic cod, are flourishing.

Coming Issues

Wherever warfare has occurred in the past 100 years, adjacent waters are typically littered with munitions, explains Vedenin. Millions of tonnes of explosive material remain in our marine environments.

The positions of these explosives are inadequately recorded, partly because of national borders, classified military information and the fact that records are stored in old files. They create an explosion and security risk, as well as danger from the ongoing leakage of hazardous substances.

As Germany and other countries start removing these artifacts, researchers plan to preserve the habitats that have developed nearby. In the Bay of Lübeck explosives are already being extracted.

Researchers recommend substitute these iron structures remaining from munitions with certain less dangerous, various non-dangerous materials, like maybe man-made habitats, suggests Vedenin.

He now hopes that what transpires in Lübeck creates a example for replacing habitats after weapon clearance in other locations – because even the most destructive armaments can become framework for ocean ecosystems.