World War II Explosives, Torpedoes and Mines: The Way Marine Life Flourishes on Abandoned Armaments

In the brackish sea off the Germany's shoreline sits a graveyard of Nazi bombs, torpedo heads and naval mines. Thrown off boats at the conclusion of the World War II and left behind, thousands weapons have become matted together over the decades. They comprise a corroding blanket on the shallow, muddy ocean floor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western part of the Baltic Sea.

Over the decades, the explosive stockpile was overlooked and forgotten about. A increasing amount of tourists flocked to the coastal areas and calm waters for water sports, kite surfing and amusement parks. Beneath the surface, the munitions eroded.

Researchers thought to see a lifeless zone, with no organisms because it was all contaminated, explains Andrey Vedenin.

When the initial researchers went investigating to see what they were affecting to the ecosystem, researchers thought they would find a lifeless zone, with no life because it was all toxic, explains Andrey Vedenin.

What they discovered surprised them. Vedenin recounts his team members exclaiming in amazement when the underwater vehicle first relayed pictures. That moment was a memorable occasion, he notes.

Thousands of sea creatures had established habitats on the munitions, creating a renewed marine community richer than the sea floor surrounding it.

This underwater metropolis was testament to the resilience of life. Truly astonishing how much life we observe in places that are expected to be hazardous and risky, he states.

More than 40 starfish had gathered on to one exposed chunk of explosive material. They were residing on metal shells, detonator compartments and storage boxes just centimetres from its dangerous content. Fish, crabs, anemones and bivalves were all discovered on the old munitions. It's similar to a coral reef in terms of the abundance of fauna that was inhabiting the area, notes Vedenin.

Unexpected Population Density

An mean of more than forty thousand animals were dwelling on every meter squared of the explosives, experts documented in their study on the finding. The nearby seabed was much sparser, with only eight thousand individuals on every square metre.

It is ironic that things that are intended to kill all life are attracting so much life, says Vedenin. You can see how the natural world adjusts 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

Artificial features such as shipwrecks, wind turbines, drilling platforms and pipelines can provide alternatives, compensating for some of the lost marine environment. This research reveals that munitions could be similarly beneficial – the explosion of marine organisms on those in the Bay of Lübeck is likely to be repeated in other locations.

Between 1946 and 1948, 1.6 million tons of munitions were discarded off the Germany's shoreline. Thousands of workers transported them in barges; a portion were placed in designated sites, others just dumped en route. This is the first time researchers have documented how ocean organisms has reacted.

Global Examples of Ocean Adaptation

• In the US, retired energy installations have turned into coral reefs
• Sunken ships from the first world war have become habitats for marine life along the Potomac in Maryland
• Tank tracks that have become home to coral off Asan in Guam

These places become even more important for marine life as the marine environments are increasingly denuded by commercial fishing, bottom trawling and anchoring. Shipwrecks and explosive disposal locations effectively act as sanctuaries – they are not official reserves, but nearly any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is prohibited, explains Vedenin. Therefore a lot of marine species that are usually uncommon or diminishing, such as the Baltic cod, are flourishing.

Future Issues

Wherever warfare has occurred in the recent history, surrounding seas are typically containing weapons, says Vedenin. Many millions of tons of explosive material remain in our oceans.

The locations of these munitions are insufficiently recorded, partly because of international boundaries, classified defense data and the situation that archives are stored in historic archives. They present an explosion and security danger, as well as danger from the ongoing emission of toxic chemicals.

As the German government and other countries embark on extracting these artifacts, scientists plan to protect the habitats that have established in their vicinity. In the Bay of Lübeck weapons are presently being extracted.

Researchers recommend substitute these steel remains remaining from munitions with certain more secure, various non-dangerous materials, like possibly concrete structures, suggests Vedenin.

He currently wishes that what occurs in the Bay of Lübeck creates a model for substituting structures after explosive extraction elsewhere – because including the most harmful explosives can become framework for marine organisms.