World War II Munitions, Torpedoes and Mines: How Ocean Creatures Prosper on Discarded Weapons

In the brackish sea off the Germany's coast lies a collection of Nazi bombs, torpedoes and mines. Thrown off vessels at the end of the World War II and left behind, thousands explosives have become matted together over the decades. They create a rusting carpet on the low-depth, muddy ocean floor of the Lübeck Bay in the western part of the Baltic.

Over the years, the Nazi arsenal was overlooked and neglected. A growing number of tourists came to the coastal areas and calm waters for jetskiing, kiteboarding and amusement parks. Below the waves, the munitions deteriorated.

Researchers thought to see a lifeless zone, with no organisms because it was all contaminated, says the lead researcher.

When the first scientists went looking to see what they were affecting to the ecosystem, the team expected to see a lifeless zone, with nothing living there because it was all poisoned, states Andrey Vedenin.

What they found amazed them. Vedenin recalls his scientists shouting with surprise when the ROV first transmitted footage. It was a memorable occasion, he says.

Thousands of ocean life had settled amid the munitions, developing a renewed ecosystem richer than the ocean bottom nearby.

This marine city was testament to the tenacity of life. Indeed astonishing how much marine organisms we observe in areas that are expected to be hazardous and risky, he explains.

Over 40 starfish had clustered on to one accessible piece of TNT. They were residing on steel casings, fuse pockets and storage boxes just centimetres from its explosive filling. Fish, crustaceans, anemones and bivalves were all observed on the historic weapons. You could compare it with a marine reef in terms of the amount of creatures that was inhabiting the area, notes Vedenin.

Surprising Creature Concentration

An mean of more than 40,000 organisms were residing on every meter squared of the explosives, experts reported in their research on the finding. The adjacent region was much sparser, with only eight thousand organisms on every meter squared.

It is surprising that objects that are meant to kill all life are hosting so much life, says Vedenin. You can see how nature adapts after a devastating occurrence such as the World War II and how, in some way, life finds its way to the most dangerous places.

Artificial Features as Marine Habitats

Man-made constructions such as shipwrecks, offshore windfarms, drilling platforms and undersea pipes can provide substitutes, replacing some of the lost marine environment. This research shows that weapons could be equally positive – the bloom of marine organisms on those in the Lübeck Bay is probable to be duplicated in other locations.

Between the late 1940s and 1948, 1.6m tons of arms were discarded off the German shoreline. Countless of workers placed them in barges; a portion were dropped in designated locations, the remainder just discarded at sea while traveling. This is the initial instance scientists have documented how marine life has adapted.

Global Examples of Ocean Adaptation

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

These places become even more crucial for marine life as the marine environments are increasingly stripped by commercial fishing, bottom trawling and anchoring. Shipwrecks and explosive disposal locations essentially serve as protected areas – they are not national parks, but nearly any kind of human activity is prohibited, says Vedenin. Consequently a numerous of marine species that are usually rare or diminishing, such as the cod fish, are prospering.

Coming Factors

Anywhere military conflict has occurred in the last century, nearby oceans are usually littered with munitions, states Vedenin. Millions of tonnes of volatile compounds remain in our seas.

The positions of these explosives are poorly recorded, partially because of national borders, restricted armed forces records and the situation that documents are stored in historical records. They present an explosion and safety danger, as well as danger from the continuous emission of poisonous compounds.

As Germany and different states start removing these relics, experts plan to preserve the marine communities that have formed around them. In the Bay of Lübeck weapons are already being extracted.

Researchers recommend substitute these steel remains remaining from munitions with some less dangerous, various non-dangerous structures, like possibly artificial reefs, states Vedenin.

He currently hopes that what transpires in Lübeck establishes a precedent for substituting material after weapon clearance in different areas – because also the most harmful explosives can become framework for marine organisms.