World War II Explosives, Torpedo Heads and Naval Mines: The Way Ocean Creatures Thrives on Dumped Weapons

In the slightly salty sea off the German shoreline rests a wasteland of Nazi bombs, torpedoes and naval mines. Thrown off barges at the conclusion of the World War II and forgotten about, countless munitions have become matted together over the years. They create a decaying carpet on the low-depth, muddy seafloor of the Lübeck Bay in the western tip of the Baltic.

Over the years, the Nazi arsenal was overlooked and neglected. A increasing amount of tourists came to the sandy beaches and tranquil sea for jetskiing, kite surfing and amusement parks. Below the waves, the munitions deteriorated.

Researchers expected to see a barren area, with no organisms because it was all contaminated, says the lead researcher.

When the team went investigating to see what they were affecting to the marine environment, some of us expected to see a lifeless zone, with no organisms because it was all contaminated, states Andrey Vedenin.

What they found amazed them. Vedenin recalls his scientists shouting with surprise when the ROV first relayed pictures. It was a remarkable experience, he says.

Thousands of sea creatures had made their homes amid the weapons, creating a revitalized marine community denser than the ocean bottom around it.

This ocean community was evidence to the persistence of life. It is actually remarkable how much life we find in locations that are expected to be toxic and dangerous, he explains.

Over 40 starfish had clustered on to one visible piece of explosive material. They were residing on iron containers, fuse pockets and transport cases just centimetres from its dangerous content. Fish, crustaceans, anemones and mussels were all observed on the old munitions. You could compare it with a marine reef in terms of the abundance of creatures that was there, says Vedenin.

Unexpected Creature Concentration

An average of more than forty thousand creatures were living on every square metre of the explosives, researchers reported in their study on the observation. The adjacent region was much poorer in life, with only 8,000 creatures on every square metre.

It is ironic that items that are intended to kill all life are attracting so much life, says Vedenin. You can see how nature adapts after a major disaster such as the World War II and how, in certain respects, life returns to the most hazardous locations.

Artificial Structures as Ocean Habitats

Artificial constructions such as sunken vessels, wind turbines, oil rigs and undersea pipes can create alternatives, replacing some of the destroyed habitat. This study shows that weapons could be similarly beneficial – the explosion of marine organisms on those in the Lübeck Bay is likely to be found elsewhere.

Between the late 1940s and the post-war period, 1.6m tonnes of arms were disposed of off the German coast. Countless of people transported them in vessels; a portion were placed in designated areas, others just discarded at sea while traveling. This is the initial instance experts have documented how ocean organisms has adapted.

Worldwide Instances of Marine Transformation

• In the United States, retired oil and gas structures have transformed into reef ecosystems
• Submerged vessels from the first world war have become habitats for creatures along the Potomac River in the state of Maryland
• Tank tracks that have become home to coral off Asan in Guam

These locations become even more important for wildlife as the seas are increasingly stripped by commercial fishing, bottom trawling and boat mooring. Shipwrecks and explosive disposal locations practically serve as protected areas – they are not national parks, but almost any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is prohibited, explains Vedenin. Consequently a many of species that are usually uncommon or diminishing, such as the Baltic cod, are flourishing.

Future Considerations

Wherever military conflict has occurred in the recent history, nearby oceans are often strewn with munitions, says Vedenin. Many millions of tons of dangerous substances remain in our oceans.

The positions of these explosives are insufficiently recorded, partly because of national borders, restricted defense data and the fact that records are stored in historic archives. They create an explosion and safety risk, as well as threat from the ongoing emission of toxic chemicals.

As Germany and additional nations embark on extracting these relics, researchers hope to protect the habitats that have established in their vicinity. In the Lübeck Bay explosives are presently being extracted.

Researchers recommend substitute these steel remains left from weapons with some safer, some safe objects, like maybe artificial reefs, suggests Vedenin.

He currently hopes that what transpires in Lübeck creates a example for substituting structures after munitions removal in different areas – because also the most harmful explosives can become framework for ocean ecosystems.