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

In the brackish sea off the German shoreline sits a collection of World War II explosives, torpedo heads and mines. Dumped from vessels at the end of the World War II and left behind, countless weapons have fused into clusters over the decades. They comprise a decaying layer on the shallow, muddy ocean floor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western tip of the Baltic.

Over the years, the explosive stockpile was overlooked and forgotten about. A growing number of visitors came to the coastal areas and calm waters for water sports, kite surfing and amusement parks. Beneath the surface, the weapons decayed.

Researchers thought to see a desert, with no organisms because it was all toxic, explains the lead researcher.

When the initial researchers went searching to see what they were affecting to the marine environment, researchers anticipated finding a barren area, with nothing living there because it was all toxic, states Andrey Vedenin.

What they discovered surprised them. Vedenin recalls his scientists exclaiming in amazement when the submersible first transmitted footage. This was a great moment, he says.

Numerous of sea creatures had settled amid the explosives, creating a regenerated marine community denser than the ocean bottom nearby.

This ocean community was evidence to the tenacity of life. Indeed astonishing how much life we discover in areas that are considered hazardous and harmful, he says.

Over 40 starfish had clustered on to one accessible chunk of TNT. They were living on steel casings, detonator compartments and carrying containers just centimetres from its explosive filling. Marine fish, crabs, anemones and bivalves were all found on the historic weapons. It's similar to a marine reef in terms of the abundance of animal life that was inhabiting the area, says Vedenin.

Surprising Population Density

An mean of more than 40,000 organisms were residing on every square metre of the explosives, researchers reported in their research on the observation. The nearby seabed was much sparser, with only eight thousand organisms on every square metre.

It is paradoxical that things that are meant to kill all life are drawing so much marine organisms, states Vedenin. One can observe how the natural world adjusts after a devastating occurrence such as the second world war and how, in certain respects, life returns to the most risky areas.

Man-made Structures as Marine Habitats

Man-made constructions such as shipwrecks, wind turbines, drilling platforms and pipelines can offer substitutes, replacing some of the lost marine environment. This research reveals that munitions could be comparably advantageous – the proliferation of marine organisms on those in the Bay of Lübeck is likely to be found in other locations.

Between 1946 and 1948, 1.6m tonnes of munitions were discarded off the Germany's shoreline. Thousands of workers transported them in boats; some were deposited in designated sites, the remainder just dumped en route. This is the first time experts have recorded how ocean organisms has adapted.

Global Instances of Ocean Transformation

• In the US, retired drilling platforms have transformed into marine habitats
• Submerged vessels from the first world war have become environments for marine life along the Potomac in the state of Maryland
• Military vehicle parts that have become habitat to reef-building organisms off Asan beach in the Pacific island

These areas become even more important for organisms as the seas are increasingly denuded by commercial fishing, seafloor dredging and boat mooring. Shipwrecks and munitions areas essentially act as refuges – they are not national parks, but virtually any kind of human activity is banned, says Vedenin. Therefore a many of marine species that are otherwise rare or decreasing, such as the Baltic cod, are flourishing.

Coming Issues

Anywhere warfare has occurred in the past 100 years, surrounding seas are usually littered with explosives, explains Vedenin. Many millions of tonnes of dangerous substances rest in our oceans.

The locations of these weapons are poorly recorded, partially because of international boundaries, restricted military information and the fact that records are stored in historic archives. They present an detonation and security risk, as well as risk from the ongoing emission of toxic chemicals.

As the German government and additional nations embark on removing these artifacts, experts hope to safeguard the ecosystems that have developed in their vicinity. In the Lübeck Bay weapons are already being cleared.

It would be wise to substitute these steel remains remaining from weapons with some less dangerous, various safe structures, like maybe man-made habitats, says Vedenin.

He presently hopes that what happens in the Bay of Lübeck establishes a precedent for substituting habitats after explosive extraction in different areas – because also the most harmful weaponry can become scaffolding for marine organisms.