World War II Munitions, Torpedo Heads and Mines: The Way Marine Life Prosper on Discarded Weapons

In the slightly salty sea off the Germany's coast rests a graveyard of Nazi bombs, torpedoes and naval mines. Dumped from vessels at the conclusion of the second world war and neglected, countless munitions have fused into clusters over the decades. They create a decaying layer on the shallow, muddy ocean floor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western part of the Baltic Sea.

Over the years, the explosive stockpile was ignored and neglected. A increasing amount of tourists traveled to the coastal areas and calm waters for jetskiing, kiteboarding and entertainment venues. Below the waves, the weapons decayed.

We initially anticipated to see a desert, with nothing living there because it was all toxic, states the lead researcher.

When the initial researchers went looking to see what they were doing to the marine environment, researchers thought they would find a lifeless zone, with no organisms because it was all poisoned, explains the lead researcher.

What they observed amazed them. Vedenin remembers his colleagues shouting with surprise when the submersible first relayed pictures. This was a memorable occasion, he notes.

Countless of marine animals had made their homes on the explosives, forming a regenerated ecosystem richer than the ocean bottom surrounding it.

This underwater metropolis was testament to the resilience of life. Truly surprising how much life we discover in locations that are considered toxic and harmful, he says.

More than 40 starfish had piled on to one exposed fragment of explosive material. They were dwelling on metal shells, fuse pockets and transport cases just centimetres from its volatile core. Fish, crustaceans, sea anemones and bivalves were all found on the discarded explosives. It's similar to a reef ecosystem in terms of the abundance of fauna that was inhabiting the area, says Vedenin.

Surprising Creature Concentration

An average of more than forty thousand creatures were residing on every square metre of the munitions, experts wrote in their study on the observation. The nearby seabed was much sparser, with only 8,000 individuals on every square metre.

It is surprising that things that are meant to destroy all life are attracting so much marine organisms, explains Vedenin. You can see how nature evolves after a devastating occurrence such as the World War II and how, in some way, marine life finds its way to the most dangerous locations.

Man-made Structures as Ocean Environments

Man-made structures such as sunken vessels, wind turbines, drilling platforms and undersea pipes can create alternatives, replacing some of the removed marine environment. This research reveals that weapons could be equally positive – the bloom of marine organisms on those in the Lübeck Bay is likely to be duplicated in other locations.

Between 1946 and 1948, 1.6m tons of arms were disposed of off the German shoreline. Countless of individuals loaded them in vessels; a portion were deposited in designated locations, the remainder just thrown overboard during transport. This is the first time experts have recorded how marine life has reacted.

Global Examples of Marine Adaptation

• In the United States, decommissioned energy installations have turned into coral reefs
• Shipwrecks from the first world war have become homes for creatures along the Potomac River in Maryland
• Military vehicle parts that have become environment to reef-building organisms off Asan beach in Guam

These places become even more crucial for organisms as the seas are increasingly denuded by fishing, seafloor dredging and anchoring. Shipwrecks and explosive disposal locations practically function as protected areas – they are not official reserves, but nearly any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is prohibited, explains Vedenin. Consequently a many of species that are typically scarce or decreasing, such as the cod fish, are prospering.

Coming Considerations

Wherever armed conflict has happened in the last century, adjacent waters are typically littered with weapons, says Vedenin. Many millions of tonnes of dangerous substances lie in our marine environments.

The locations of these munitions are insufficiently recorded, partially because of sovereign limits, restricted armed forces records and the reality that documents are stored in historical records. They present an detonation and security danger, as well as risk from the ongoing leakage of poisonous compounds.

As Germany and different states embark on extracting these remains, researchers hope to preserve the habitats that have developed around them. In the Bay of Lübeck weapons are already being cleared.

We should replace these iron structures left from munitions with certain more secure, various harmless objects, like possibly artificial reefs, says Vedenin.

He presently hopes that what occurs in Lübeck establishes a example for substituting structures after weapon clearance elsewhere – because also the most damaging armaments can become scaffolding for marine organisms.