World War II Munitions, Torpedo Heads and Naval Mines: How Marine Life Thrives on Abandoned Armaments

In the brackish sea off the Germany's coast rests a graveyard of World War II explosives, torpedoes and mines. Thrown off barges at the end of the World War II and left behind, thousands explosives have accumulated over the years. They comprise a rusting layer on the low-depth, silty ocean floor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western tip of the Baltic.

Over the decades, the wartime weapons was ignored and neglected. A growing number of visitors came to the sandy beaches and calm waters for water sports, kite surfing and entertainment venues. Beneath the surface, the weapons eroded.

We initially thought to see a barren area, with no life because it was all toxic, explains Andrey Vedenin.

When the team went investigating to see what they were affecting to the ecosystem, researchers expected to see a lifeless zone, with nothing living there because it was all poisoned, says the lead researcher.

What they found amazed them. Vedenin remembers his team members shouting with surprise when the underwater vehicle first relayed pictures. This was a memorable occasion, he says.

Countless of ocean life had settled among the explosives, creating a regenerated habitat more populous than the ocean bottom nearby.

This marine city was evidence to the persistence of marine life. It is actually remarkable how much life we find in locations that are supposed to be dangerous and harmful, he explains.

More than 40 sea stars had piled on to one accessible chunk of TNT. They were living on iron containers, ignition chambers and storage boxes just centimetres from its volatile core. Marine fish, crabs, anemones and mussels were all found on the discarded explosives. It resembles a coral reef in terms of the abundance of animal life that was present, notes Vedenin.

Surprising Population Density

An mean of more than forty thousand organisms were residing on every square metre of the weapons, experts documented in their paper on the finding. The nearby seabed was much poorer in life, with only eight thousand creatures on every square metre.

It is surprising that things that are intended to kill all life are hosting so much life, says Vedenin. You can see how nature adapts after a major disaster such as the World War II and how, in certain respects, life establishes itself to the most dangerous places.

Man-made Structures as Marine Environments

Man-made features such as sunken vessels, wind turbines, drilling platforms and pipelines can provide substitutes, compensating for some of the destroyed habitat. This research demonstrates that weapons could be comparably advantageous – the proliferation of life on those in the Lübeck Bay is likely to be repeated in other locations.

Between 1946 and 1948, 1.6m tons of munitions were dumped off the German shoreline. Numerous of workers loaded them in boats; some were dropped in specific locations, the remainder just dumped while traveling. This is the initial instance scientists have studied how marine life has reacted.

Worldwide Examples of Ocean Transformation

• In the United States, retired oil and gas structures have become reef ecosystems
• Shipwrecks from the first world war have become homes for marine life along the Potomac in the state of Maryland
• Military vehicle parts that have become habitat to reef-building organisms off Asan beach in Guam

These locations become even more crucial for marine life as the marine environments are increasingly stripped by commercial fishing, bottom trawling and anchoring. Shipwrecks and weapons dump sites practically act as protected areas – they are not national parks, but almost any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is banned, says Vedenin. As a result a many of marine species that are typically rare or declining, such as the cod fish, are prospering.

Coming Considerations

Wherever armed conflict has taken place in the last century, surrounding seas are usually littered with weapons, says Vedenin. Many millions of tons of volatile compounds remain in our seas.

The positions of these weapons are poorly documented, partly because of international boundaries, classified military information and the fact that records are hidden in old files. They pose an detonation and security risk, as well as risk from the ongoing release of hazardous substances.

As Germany and additional nations start extracting these artifacts, researchers hope to protect the habitats that have formed nearby. In the Lübeck Bay explosives are currently being removed.

Researchers recommend replace these metal carcasses remaining from munitions with certain more secure, various non-dangerous materials, like possibly man-made habitats, states Vedenin.

He now aspires that what happens in the Bay of Lübeck sets a precedent for replacing material after weapon clearance in other locations – because also the most harmful weaponry can become framework for ocean ecosystems.