World War II Bombs, Torpedo Heads and Mines: The Way Marine Life Flourishes on Abandoned Armaments

In the brackish sea off the Germany's shoreline rests a graveyard of World War II explosives, torpedoes and mines. Thrown off barges at the end of the World War II and neglected, thousands weapons have fused into clusters over the decades. They create a rusting carpet on the shallow, muddy ocean floor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western part of the Baltic Sea.

Over the decades, the Nazi arsenal was ignored and forgotten about. A growing number of tourists traveled to the sandy beaches and tranquil sea for jetskiing, kite surfing and amusement parks. Below the waves, the munitions deteriorated.

Some of us thought to see a barren area, with nothing living there because it was all contaminated, states the lead researcher.

When the team went investigating to see what they were doing to the marine environment, the team thought they would find a lifeless zone, with no organisms because it was all contaminated, says Andrey Vedenin.

What they found surprised them. Vedenin recalls his colleagues reacting with shock when the submersible first relayed pictures. It was a remarkable experience, he notes.

Thousands of ocean life had established habitats on the weapons, developing a renewed marine community denser than the ocean bottom surrounding it.

This underwater metropolis was proof to the persistence of life. It is actually surprising how much marine organisms we observe in places that are supposed to be dangerous and harmful, he states.

More than 40 starfish had gathered on to one accessible piece of explosive material. They were residing on steel casings, fuse pockets and carrying containers just centimetres from its dangerous content. Marine fish, crabs, anemones and mussels were all discovered on the old munitions. It's similar to a coral reef in terms of the abundance of fauna that was inhabiting the area, says Vedenin.

Unexpected Creature Concentration

An mean of more than 40,000 animals were living on every meter squared of the explosives, scientists reported in their study on the discovery. The adjacent region was much poorer in life, with only eight thousand organisms on every meter squared.

It is ironic that objects that are intended to eliminate all life are attracting so much life, states Vedenin. One can observe how the natural world evolves after a catastrophic event such as the World War II and how, in some way, marine life returns to the most risky areas.

Man-made Features as Marine Environments

Artificial constructions such as sunken vessels, wind turbines, oil rigs and pipelines can create alternatives, compensating for some of the lost habitat. This study shows that weapons could be similarly advantageous – the explosion of life on those in the Bay of Lübeck is probable to be duplicated elsewhere.

Between the late 1940s and the post-war period, 1.6 million tonnes of munitions were disposed of off the Germany's coast. Numerous of individuals placed them in boats; some were placed in allocated locations, the remainder just thrown overboard while traveling. This is the initial instance scientists have recorded how ocean organisms has responded.

Global Instances of Marine Adaptation

• In the United States, retired oil and gas structures have turned into marine habitats
• Submerged vessels from the World War I have become homes for creatures along the Potomac River in Maryland
• Tank tracks that have become environment to reef-building organisms off Asan beach in Guam

These areas become even more important for wildlife as the seas are increasingly depleted by fishing, seafloor dredging and boat mooring. Sunken ships and explosive disposal locations essentially serve as refuges – they are not official reserves, but nearly any kind of human activity is restricted, explains Vedenin. Consequently a lot of species that are typically rare or diminishing, such as the cod fish, are prospering.

Future Factors

Wherever military conflict has occurred in the recent history, surrounding seas are often littered with weapons, says Vedenin. Many millions of tons of dangerous substances remain in our marine environments.

The sites of these munitions are insufficiently recorded, partially because of national borders, restricted military information and the situation that records are buried in historic archives. They pose an explosion and security hazard, as well as danger from the ongoing leakage of poisonous compounds.

As the German government and other countries begin clearing these relics, researchers aim to safeguard the marine communities that have formed around them. In the Bay of Lübeck explosives are currently being cleared.

It would be wise to substitute these steel remains left from weapons with certain safer, various harmless structures, like perhaps concrete structures, states Vedenin.

He now hopes that what happens in the Bay of Lübeck sets a precedent for substituting material after explosive extraction in other locations – because also the most destructive weaponry can become scaffolding for new life.