World War II Explosives, Torpedo Heads and Mines: The Way Ocean Creatures Flourishes on Discarded Armaments

In the brackish sea off the Germany's coast lies a graveyard of World War II explosives, torpedoes and mines. Thrown off barges at the conclusion of the World War II and neglected, countless weapons have become matted together over the years. They comprise a decaying layer on the low-depth, silty seafloor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western tip of the Baltic Sea.

Over the decades, the wartime weapons was ignored and forgotten about. A increasing amount of visitors came to the coastal areas and tranquil sea for jetskiing, kite surfing and entertainment venues. Underwater, the weapons eroded.

Researchers thought to see a lifeless zone, with nothing living there because it was all contaminated, states Andrey Vedenin.

When the team went searching to see what they were doing to the marine environment, the team anticipated finding a lifeless zone, with no organisms because it was all poisoned, explains a scientist.

What they found astonished them. Vedenin recounts his scientists shouting with surprise when the underwater vehicle first transmitted footage. That moment was a memorable occasion, he recalls.

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

This ocean community was testament to the resilience of life. Indeed remarkable how much life we observe in places that are expected to be hazardous and risky, he explains.

In excess of 40 sea stars had piled on to one visible piece of explosive material. They were residing on steel casings, fuse pockets and carrying containers just a short distance from its explosive filling. Fish, crabs, sea anemones and bivalves were all found on the discarded explosives. It's similar to a reef ecosystem in terms of the quantity of fauna that was inhabiting the area, states Vedenin.

Surprising Population Density

An average of more than 40,000 animals were dwelling on every square metre of the explosives, researchers reported in their paper on the observation. The adjacent region was much less diverse, with only eight thousand organisms on every square metre.

It is paradoxical that items that are intended to eliminate all life are attracting so much life, explains Vedenin. It's evident how the natural world evolves after a major disaster such as the second world war and how, in some way, life returns to the most hazardous areas.

Artificial Features as Marine Environments

Artificial features such as shipwrecks, wind turbines, drilling platforms and pipelines can offer replacements, restoring some of the removed marine environment. This study demonstrates that munitions could be comparably advantageous – the proliferation of marine organisms on those in the Lübeck Bay is likely to be found in different areas.

Between the late 1940s and the post-war period, 1.6 million tons of arms were disposed of off the German shoreline. Countless of individuals loaded them in boats; a portion were deposited in designated locations, others just thrown overboard en route. This is the first time experts have documented how marine life has adapted.

Worldwide Instances of Ocean Adaptation

• In the US, retired drilling platforms have transformed into marine habitats
• Submerged vessels from the first world war have become habitats for creatures along the Potomac in the state of Maryland
• Tank tracks that have become environment to reef-building organisms off Asan in Guam

These locations become even more valuable for wildlife as the oceans are increasingly denuded by fishing, seafloor dredging and boat mooring. Sunken ships and explosive disposal locations effectively function as sanctuaries – they are not official reserves, but nearly any kind of human activity is banned, explains Vedenin. As a result a many of species that are typically uncommon or diminishing, such as the cod fish, are thriving.

Future Issues

Anywhere warfare has happened in the past 100 years, surrounding seas are usually strewn with weapons, explains Vedenin. Millions of tonnes of explosive material rest in our oceans.

The positions of these weapons are poorly mapped, partially because of national borders, secret defense data and the situation that records are stored in historical records. They present an detonation and safety danger, as well as danger from the ongoing release of hazardous substances.

As Germany and other countries begin clearing these relics, researchers hope to safeguard the habitats that have developed nearby. In the Bay of Lübeck weapons are already being extracted.

It would be wise to substitute these iron structures left from weapons with some safer, some safe objects, like possibly concrete structures, suggests Vedenin.

He now wishes that what transpires in the Bay of Lübeck creates a precedent for replacing structures after munitions removal in different areas – because including the most harmful weaponry can become foundation for marine organisms.