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

In the brackish sea off the Germany's shoreline rests a wasteland of Nazi bombs, torpedo heads and mines. Thrown off vessels at the conclusion of the second world war and forgotten about, numerous munitions have accumulated over the decades. They form a decaying carpet on the low-depth, muddy seafloor of the Lübeck Bay in the western tip of the Baltic Sea.

Over the years, the Nazi arsenal was overlooked and neglected. A increasing amount of tourists came to the sandy beaches and tranquil sea for water sports, kite surfing and entertainment venues. Underwater, the weapons deteriorated.

We initially expected to see a lifeless zone, with no life because it was all toxic, states a scientist.

When the team went investigating to see what they were affecting to the marine environment, the team thought they would find a barren area, with no organisms because it was all contaminated, explains a scientist.

What they observed astonished them. Vedenin recalls his colleagues reacting with shock when the ROV first sent the images back. That moment was a remarkable experience, he says.

Countless of ocean life had made their homes among the explosives, creating a regenerated ecosystem more populous than the seabed surrounding it.

This underwater metropolis was testament to the persistence of marine life. Indeed surprising how much marine organisms we discover in areas that are supposed to be toxic and dangerous, he states.

Over 40 sea stars had piled on to one visible piece of explosive material. They were living on steel casings, detonator compartments and storage boxes just a short distance from its dangerous content. Marine fish, crabs, sea anemones and bivalves were all found on the old munitions. It's similar to a marine reef in terms of the abundance of animal life that was there, says Vedenin.

Surprising Population Density

An mean of more than 40,000 organisms were residing on every square metre of the munitions, experts wrote in their research on the observation. The surrounding area was much less diverse, with only 8,000 individuals on every meter squared.

It is ironic that items that are meant to kill everything are drawing so much marine organisms, states Vedenin. You can see how nature adjusts after a devastating occurrence such as the second world war and how, in some way, life finds its way to the most dangerous locations.

Man-made Structures as Marine Habitats

Artificial features such as shipwrecks, wind turbines, drilling platforms and undersea pipes can offer alternatives, replacing some of the removed marine environment. This investigation reveals that explosives could be similarly beneficial – the proliferation of life on those in the Bay of Lübeck is likely to be found in different areas.

Between 1946 and the post-war period, 1.6m tons of arms were discarded off the German coast. Numerous of individuals transported them in boats; some were placed in designated locations, the remainder just dumped en route. This is the initial instance researchers have documented how ocean organisms has responded.

Worldwide Examples of Ocean Adaptation

• In the US, retired drilling platforms have turned into marine habitats
• Sunken ships from the first world war have become homes for marine life along the Potomac in the state of Maryland
• Tank tracks that have become home to reef-building organisms off Asan in Guam

These locations become even more crucial for organisms as the oceans are increasingly depleted by fishing, bottom trawling and anchoring. Sunken ships and explosive disposal locations essentially serve as refuges – they are not official reserves, but nearly any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is restricted, states Vedenin. As a result a numerous of organisms that are typically scarce or decreasing, such as the cod fish, are flourishing.

Coming Factors

Wherever military conflict has happened in the past 100 years, nearby oceans are often littered with weapons, says Vedenin. Millions of tons of dangerous substances remain in our seas.

The positions of these munitions are insufficiently documented, partly because of international boundaries, restricted defense data and the situation that documents are buried in old files. They present an detonation and safety danger, as well as danger from the ongoing emission of poisonous compounds.

As the German government and other countries begin removing these relics, experts aim to safeguard the ecosystems that have formed in their vicinity. In the Bay of Lübeck explosives are already being cleared.

It would be wise to substitute these iron structures originating from munitions with some more secure, some safe objects, like possibly artificial reefs, says Vedenin.

He currently wishes that what occurs in the Bay of Lübeck sets a example for substituting habitats after explosive extraction in other locations – because even the most harmful armaments can become framework for marine organisms.