World War II Bombs, Torpedoes and Mines: How Ocean Creatures Prosper on Abandoned Weapons

In the slightly salty sea off the Germany's shoreline rests a collection of World War II explosives, torpedo heads and mines. Thrown off boats at the end of the World War II and left behind, numerous explosives have accumulated over the years. They create a decaying carpet on the shallow, silty ocean floor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western tip of the Baltic Sea.

Over the years, the wartime weapons was overlooked and forgotten about. A growing number of visitors flocked to the sandy beaches and tranquil sea for jetskiing, kiteboarding and entertainment venues. Below the waves, the munitions eroded.

We initially anticipated to see a desert, with no organisms because it was all contaminated, states Andrey Vedenin.

When the first scientists went looking to see what they were doing to the marine environment, researchers expected to see a barren area, with no life because it was all toxic, states a scientist.

What they found surprised them. Vedenin recounts his scientists exclaiming in amazement when the submersible first relayed pictures. It was a memorable occasion, he recalls.

Numerous of ocean life had made their homes amid the munitions, forming a regenerated marine community richer than the ocean bottom nearby.

This ocean community was evidence to the resilience of life. Truly surprising how much marine organisms we discover in areas that are considered toxic and risky, he says.

Over 40 starfish had clustered on to one accessible chunk of TNT. They were living on metal shells, detonator compartments and transport cases just a short distance from its volatile core. Fish, crabs, anemones and bivalves were all observed on the old munitions. It's similar to a reef ecosystem in terms of the abundance of animal life that was present, says Vedenin.

Unexpected Creature Concentration

An mean of more than forty thousand animals were living on every meter squared of the explosives, scientists reported in their research on the observation. The adjacent region was much sparser, with only eight thousand individuals on every meter squared.

It is surprising that things that are intended to kill everything are drawing so much life, states Vedenin. It's evident how the natural world evolves after a major disaster such as the second world war and how, in certain respects, marine life finds its way to the most dangerous locations.

Artificial Structures as Marine Habitats

Artificial structures such as sunken vessels, offshore windfarms, drilling platforms and pipelines can provide alternatives, replacing some of the destroyed marine environment. This research shows that munitions could be similarly positive – the explosion of life on those in the Bay of Lübeck is likely to be duplicated elsewhere.

Between 1946 and 1948, 1.6 million tonnes of arms were disposed of off the German coast. Countless of workers placed them in boats; some were dropped in specific areas, others just discarded at sea while traveling. This is the initial instance experts have studied how ocean organisms has responded.

Global Instances of Marine Transformation

• In the United States, decommissioned oil and gas structures have turned into marine habitats
• Submerged vessels from the World War I have become homes for marine life along the Potomac River in Maryland
• Military vehicle parts that have become home to coral off Asan in the Pacific island

These areas 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 essentially act as refuges – they are not official reserves, but nearly any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is restricted, states Vedenin. As a result a lot of organisms that are otherwise rare or decreasing, such as the cod fish, are flourishing.

Future Considerations

Anywhere armed conflict has taken place in the past 100 years, adjacent waters are usually containing munitions, states Vedenin. Many millions of tons of volatile compounds remain in our marine environments.

The sites of these weapons are poorly recorded, in part because of international boundaries, secret defense data and the situation that documents are stored in historical records. They pose an detonation and safety risk, as well as danger from the continuous emission of hazardous substances.

As Germany and other countries embark on clearing these relics, scientists hope to safeguard the habitats that have formed around them. In the Lübeck Bay weapons are currently being removed.

Researchers recommend replace these steel remains originating from munitions with some less dangerous, various safe objects, like maybe man-made habitats, states Vedenin.

He presently aspires that what happens in Lübeck sets a model for replacing material after munitions removal in other locations – because including the most damaging weaponry can become foundation for ocean ecosystems.