World War II Bombs, Torpedo Heads and Naval Mines: The Way Ocean Creatures Flourishes on Dumped Armaments

In the slightly salty waters off the Germany's coast lies a wasteland of World War II explosives, torpedoes and mines. Dumped from barges at the end of the second world war and forgotten about, numerous explosives have accumulated over the decades. They create a rusting carpet on the shallow, silty ocean floor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western part of the Baltic.

Over the decades, the explosive stockpile was ignored and forgotten about. A growing number of tourists came to the sandy beaches and calm waters for water sports, kiteboarding and entertainment venues. Beneath the surface, the weapons decayed.

We initially thought to see a desert, with no organisms because it was all contaminated, explains the lead researcher.

When the first scientists went looking to see what they were doing to the marine environment, the team expected to see a desert, with no life because it was all contaminated, states Andrey Vedenin.

What they discovered astonished them. Vedenin remembers his scientists shouting with surprise when the ROV first relayed pictures. It was a great moment, he recalls.

Thousands of ocean life had established habitats among the munitions, forming a regenerated ecosystem denser than the sea floor surrounding it.

This marine city was proof to the persistence of life. It is actually surprising how much marine organisms we discover in areas that are expected to be toxic and dangerous, he states.

In excess of 40 starfish had piled on to one accessible chunk of TNT. They were living on steel casings, fuse pockets and carrying containers just centimetres from its volatile core. Fish, crustaceans, anemones and bivalves were all discovered on the old munitions. It's similar to a marine reef in terms of the amount of creatures that was present, notes Vedenin.

Remarkable Creature Concentration

An mean of more than 40,000 animals were living on every meter squared of the explosives, experts documented in their study on the observation. The adjacent region was much poorer in life, with only 8,000 individuals on every square metre.

It is ironic that things that are intended to kill everything are attracting so much life, states Vedenin. You can see how nature adjusts after a major disaster such as the second world war and how, in certain respects, marine life finds its way to the most risky locations.

Man-made Structures as Ocean Environments

Man-made structures such as shipwrecks, offshore windfarms, oil rigs and undersea pipes can provide substitutes, compensating for some of the lost marine environment. This study shows that weapons could be comparably beneficial – the proliferation of marine organisms on those in the Lübeck Bay is probable to be duplicated elsewhere.

Between 1946 and the post-war period, 1.6 million tonnes of arms were dumped off the Germany's shoreline. Countless of workers loaded them in vessels; some were placed in specific sites, the remainder just discarded at sea while traveling. This is the first time researchers have documented how ocean organisms has responded.

Global Examples of Marine Adaptation

• In the US, decommissioned energy installations have become coral reefs
• Shipwrecks from the first world war have become homes for marine life along the Potomac River in Maryland
• Military vehicle parts that have become habitat to coral off Asan beach in Guam

These areas become even more important for wildlife as the marine environments are increasingly stripped by commercial fishing, bottom trawling and boat mooring. Sunken ships and munitions areas essentially function as protected areas – they are not national parks, but nearly any kind of human activity is banned, states Vedenin. As a result a many of organisms that are usually scarce or diminishing, such as the cod fish, are thriving.

Coming Issues

Wherever warfare has happened in the recent history, surrounding seas are often strewn with munitions, explains Vedenin. Many millions of tons of explosive material lie in our marine environments.

The positions of these weapons are insufficiently recorded, partly because of national borders, restricted defense data and the situation that archives are hidden in historical records. They pose an detonation and security risk, as well as danger from the persistent emission of hazardous substances.

As the German government and other countries begin clearing these remains, scientists plan to preserve the habitats that have developed nearby. In the Lübeck Bay weapons are presently being cleared.

Researchers recommend replace these metal carcasses originating from munitions with some safer, various non-dangerous objects, like possibly man-made habitats, suggests Vedenin.

He currently hopes that what occurs in the Bay of Lübeck creates a model for substituting material after explosive extraction elsewhere – because also the most harmful armaments can become scaffolding for ocean ecosystems.