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

In the slightly salty sea off the Germany's shoreline sits a graveyard of World War II explosives, torpedo heads and naval mines. Discarded from barges at the conclusion of the World War II and forgotten about, numerous munitions have fused into clusters over the years. They create a rusting carpet on the shallow, muddy seafloor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western tip of the Baltic.

Over the years, the explosive stockpile was ignored and forgotten about. A increasing amount of tourists flocked to the sandy beaches and calm waters for jetskiing, kite surfing and entertainment venues. Below the waves, the munitions deteriorated.

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

When the initial researchers went searching to see what they were doing to the marine environment, the team anticipated finding a desert, with no life because it was all toxic, explains Andrey Vedenin.

What they discovered astonished them. Vedenin recounts his scientists exclaiming in amazement when the underwater vehicle first sent the images back. It was a remarkable experience, he notes.

Thousands of sea creatures had made their homes on the munitions, creating a regenerated habitat more populous than the sea floor nearby.

This marine city was evidence to the tenacity of marine life. Indeed remarkable how much life we discover in areas that are supposed to be toxic and risky, he says.

Over 40 sea stars had clustered on to one exposed fragment of TNT. They were living on iron containers, fuse pockets and storage boxes just centimetres from its volatile core. Marine fish, crustaceans, anemones and mussels were all found on the historic weapons. It's similar to a marine reef in terms of the amount of creatures that was inhabiting the area, notes Vedenin.

Remarkable Creature Concentration

An average of more than 40,000 organisms were residing on every meter squared of the weapons, researchers reported in their paper on the discovery. The adjacent region was much less diverse, with only eight thousand organisms on every square metre.

It is ironic that objects that are intended to kill all life are hosting so much marine organisms, says Vedenin. You can see how the natural world adapts after a major disaster such as the World War II and how, in certain respects, marine life returns to the most risky places.

Man-made Features as Ocean Environments

Artificial constructions such as sunken vessels, wind turbines, oil rigs and pipelines can create alternatives, restoring some of the removed habitat. This investigation demonstrates that munitions could be similarly beneficial – the explosion of life on those in the Lübeck Bay is likely to be duplicated elsewhere.

Between the late 1940s and the post-war period, 1.6 million tonnes of munitions were discarded off the Germany's shoreline. Countless of individuals transported them in vessels; a portion were deposited in allocated areas, the remainder just dumped while traveling. This is the initial instance scientists have recorded how marine life has reacted.

Global Instances of Marine Adaptation

• In the US, retired oil and gas structures have transformed into coral reefs
• Shipwrecks from the World War I have become habitats for marine life along the Potomac River in Maryland
• Tank tracks that have become home to reef-building organisms off Asan beach in Guam

These locations become even more important for wildlife as the marine environments are increasingly depleted by fishing, bottom trawling and anchoring. Shipwrecks and weapons dump sites essentially serve as sanctuaries – they are not national parks, but virtually any kind of human activity is banned, says Vedenin. Consequently a numerous of marine species that are typically rare or decreasing, such as the cod fish, are prospering.

Future Considerations

Wherever armed conflict has happened in the past 100 years, surrounding seas are typically littered with weapons, says Vedenin. Many millions of tonnes of volatile compounds rest in our seas.

The sites of these munitions are poorly mapped, partly because of international boundaries, secret military information and the reality that archives are buried in old files. They present an explosion and safety risk, as well as risk from the ongoing release of poisonous compounds.

As Germany and additional nations begin removing these artifacts, experts aim to protect the ecosystems that have formed in their vicinity. In the Bay of Lübeck explosives are currently being removed.

We should substitute these metal carcasses originating from munitions with certain more secure, some harmless objects, like perhaps concrete structures, suggests Vedenin.

He now aspires that what occurs in the Bay of Lübeck establishes a example for substituting structures after explosive extraction elsewhere – because also the most destructive armaments can become foundation for marine organisms.