World War II Munitions, Torpedo Heads and Naval Mines: The Way Ocean Creatures Prosper on Abandoned Armaments

In the brackish sea off the Germany's shoreline rests a collection of Nazi bombs, torpedoes and naval mines. Discarded from vessels at the end of the second world war and forgotten about, numerous munitions have become matted together over the decades. They create a corroding carpet on the low-depth, silty ocean floor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western tip of the Baltic.

Over the years, the Nazi arsenal was overlooked and forgotten about. A increasing amount of tourists traveled to the coastal areas and calm waters for water sports, kiteboarding and entertainment venues. Underwater, the munitions deteriorated.

Some of us expected to see a barren area, with nothing living there because it was all toxic, says a scientist.

When the team went looking to see what they were doing to the ecosystem, the team anticipated finding a barren area, with no organisms because it was all contaminated, says Andrey Vedenin.

What they discovered surprised them. Vedenin recalls his scientists shouting with surprise when the underwater vehicle first sent the images back. It was a great moment, he notes.

Thousands of ocean life had made their homes among the munitions, forming a regenerated ecosystem richer than the ocean bottom surrounding it.

This underwater metropolis was proof to the tenacity of life. It is actually astonishing how much life we find in locations that are considered hazardous and risky, he says.

In excess of 40 sea stars had gathered on to one visible piece of TNT. They were residing on iron containers, fuse pockets and storage boxes just centimetres from its dangerous content. Fish, crustaceans, anemones and bivalves were all found on the discarded explosives. It resembles a marine reef in terms of the quantity of creatures that was inhabiting the area, states Vedenin.

Unexpected Creature Concentration

An average of more than forty thousand organisms were living on every meter squared of the munitions, researchers documented in their study on the observation. The nearby seabed was much less diverse, with only eight thousand individuals on every square metre.

It is ironic that objects that are meant to destroy everything are drawing so much life, says Vedenin. You can see how the natural world evolves after a devastating occurrence such as the World War II and how, in some way, marine life establishes itself to the most dangerous areas.

Man-made Features as Ocean Habitats

Artificial structures such as shipwrecks, wind turbines, drilling platforms and pipelines can offer alternatives, compensating for some of the destroyed marine environment. This investigation shows that explosives could be equally advantageous – the bloom of life on those in the Bay of Lübeck is probable to be duplicated in different areas.

Between the late 1940s and 1948, 1.6 million tons of arms were dumped off the German coast. Countless of people loaded them in barges; a portion were dropped in allocated areas, the remainder just discarded at sea during transport. This is the first time scientists have studied how marine life has reacted.

Worldwide Examples of Ocean Transformation

• In the United States, retired energy installations have become marine habitats
• Shipwrecks from the first world war have become homes for wildlife along the Potomac River in Maryland
• Tank tracks that have become habitat to coral off Asan beach in the Pacific island

These areas become even more important for organisms as the oceans are increasingly stripped by commercial fishing, bottom trawling and anchoring. Shipwrecks and explosive disposal locations essentially act as refuges – they are not national parks, but nearly any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is restricted, says Vedenin. Consequently a many of species that are otherwise rare or diminishing, such as the cod fish, are prospering.

Future Issues

Anywhere warfare has occurred in the past 100 years, surrounding seas are typically strewn with weapons, explains Vedenin. Many millions of tons of volatile compounds lie in our marine environments.

The positions of these munitions are poorly documented, partially because of sovereign limits, restricted defense data and the reality that archives are buried in old files. They pose an detonation and safety hazard, as well as risk from the ongoing leakage of poisonous compounds.

As the German government and other countries start clearing these remains, scientists hope to protect the ecosystems that have established nearby. In the Lübeck Bay weapons are presently being removed.

We should substitute these steel remains remaining from munitions with certain more secure, various safe structures, like perhaps man-made habitats, states Vedenin.

He presently hopes that what transpires in the Bay of Lübeck sets a precedent for substituting habitats after munitions removal elsewhere – because also the most destructive weaponry can become foundation for new life.