World War II Munitions, Torpedoes and Naval Mines: How Ocean Creatures Flourishes on Dumped Armaments

In the brackish sea off the German coast lies a collection of World War II explosives, torpedo heads and mines. Thrown off boats at the end of the second world war and forgotten about, thousands weapons have become matted together over the decades. They form a corroding carpet on the shallow, silty ocean floor of the Lübeck Bay in the western tip of the Baltic.

Over the years, the Nazi arsenal was overlooked and neglected. A growing number of visitors came to the coastal areas and calm waters for water sports, kiteboarding and entertainment venues. Below the waves, the munitions deteriorated.

Researchers anticipated to see a barren area, with no life because it was all poisoned, states the lead researcher.

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

What they observed astonished them. Vedenin remembers his team members exclaiming in amazement when the ROV first sent the images back. This was a remarkable experience, he notes.

Countless of ocean life had established habitats among the weapons, forming a revitalized marine community denser than the sea floor surrounding it.

This underwater metropolis was testament to the resilience of marine life. Indeed surprising how much life we observe in places that are supposed to be dangerous and risky, he states.

Over 40 starfish had clustered on to one visible piece of TNT. They were living on iron containers, ignition chambers and storage boxes just a short distance from its explosive filling. Fish, crabs, sea anemones and bivalves were all found on the historic weapons. You could compare it with a marine reef in terms of the abundance of creatures that was present, notes Vedenin.

Surprising Population Density

An average of more than 40,000 organisms were dwelling on every meter squared of the weapons, experts wrote in their research on the finding. The nearby seabed was much less diverse, with only eight thousand creatures on every meter squared.

It is ironic that items that are designed to eliminate all life are hosting so much marine organisms, states Vedenin. It's evident how nature adapts after a catastrophic event such as the World War II and how, in certain respects, marine life finds its way to the most dangerous locations.

Artificial Features as Ocean Environments

Man-made constructions such as shipwrecks, wind turbines, oil rigs and pipelines can create replacements, replacing some of the destroyed habitat. This research shows that weapons could be comparably beneficial – the proliferation of life on those in the Lübeck Bay is probable to be found elsewhere.

Between 1946 and 1948, 1.6 million tons of arms were disposed of off the German shoreline. Countless of people placed them in boats; a portion were deposited in specific sites, the remainder just dumped en route. This is the initial instance researchers have studied how ocean organisms has reacted.

Worldwide Instances of Marine Adaptation

• In the United States, decommissioned oil and gas structures have transformed into reef ecosystems
• Sunken ships from the World War I have become habitats for creatures along the Potomac in the state of Maryland
• Tank tracks that have become environment to reef-building organisms off Asan in Guam

These places become even more important for wildlife as the seas are increasingly denuded by fishing, seafloor dredging and boat mooring. Sunken ships and explosive disposal locations effectively act as sanctuaries – they are not national parks, but virtually any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is prohibited, states Vedenin. Consequently a numerous of species that are otherwise rare or declining, such as the Baltic cod, are prospering.

Coming Factors

Wherever armed conflict has taken place in the past 100 years, nearby oceans are often containing explosives, says Vedenin. Millions of tons of dangerous substances rest in our oceans.

The sites of these explosives are inadequately recorded, in part because of national borders, secret defense data and the situation that documents are stored in old files. They create an detonation and safety hazard, as well as danger from the persistent release of hazardous substances.

As the German government and other countries begin clearing these artifacts, experts aim to preserve the habitats that have established around them. In the Lübeck Bay weapons are presently being cleared.

It would be wise to substitute these metal carcasses originating from weapons with certain more secure, some harmless materials, like maybe man-made habitats, says Vedenin.

He now hopes that what happens in Lübeck sets a model for replacing habitats after weapon clearance in different areas – because even the most harmful armaments can become scaffolding for new life.