World War II Explosives, Torpedoes and Naval Mines: The Way Ocean Creatures Prosper on Dumped Weapons

In the brackish waters off the German coast sits a graveyard of World War II explosives, torpedoes and naval mines. Discarded from boats at the end of the second world war and neglected, numerous weapons have fused into clusters over the decades. They form a corroding carpet on the shallow, muddy ocean floor of the Lübeck Bay in the western part of the Baltic.

Over the years, the Nazi arsenal was overlooked and forgotten about. A growing number of tourists traveled to the sandy beaches and calm waters for water sports, kite surfing and entertainment venues. Beneath the surface, the weapons deteriorated.

Some of us thought to see a lifeless zone, with no organisms because it was all contaminated, explains the lead researcher.

When the team went looking to see what they were doing to the ecosystem, some of us thought they would find a desert, with nothing living there because it was all contaminated, says the lead researcher.

What they found amazed them. Vedenin recounts his scientists shouting with surprise when the submersible first transmitted footage. This was a great moment, he recalls.

Countless of ocean life had settled amid the weapons, creating a regenerated ecosystem denser than the ocean bottom surrounding it.

This marine city was evidence to the persistence of life. It is actually surprising how much life we find in locations that are expected to be dangerous and risky, he explains.

In excess of 40 starfish had clustered on to one visible piece of TNT. They were living on steel casings, ignition chambers and transport cases just a short distance from its volatile core. Fish, crustaceans, anemones and bivalves were all observed on the old munitions. It resembles a reef ecosystem in terms of the quantity of creatures that was there, notes Vedenin.

Surprising Creature Concentration

An average of more than 40,000 animals were dwelling on every meter squared of the munitions, scientists reported in their paper on the discovery. The nearby seabed was much sparser, with only 8,000 creatures on every square metre.

It is surprising that items that are meant to eliminate everything are hosting so much life, says Vedenin. You can see how nature adapts after a devastating occurrence such as the second world war and how, in certain respects, marine life establishes itself to the most hazardous areas.

Man-made Structures as Ocean Environments

Artificial structures such as sunken vessels, offshore windfarms, drilling platforms and undersea pipes can provide substitutes, restoring some of the destroyed habitat. This study shows that munitions could be similarly advantageous – the bloom of life on those in the Bay of Lübeck is likely to be duplicated elsewhere.

Between 1946 and 1948, 1.6m tonnes of munitions were disposed of off the German coast. Numerous of people placed them in barges; a portion were deposited in designated locations, others just discarded at sea en route. This is the first time researchers have recorded how ocean organisms has adapted.

Worldwide Instances of Ocean Transformation

• In the United States, decommissioned drilling platforms have transformed into reef ecosystems
• Submerged vessels from the World War I have become environments for wildlife along the Potomac River in Maryland
• Tank tracks that have become environment to coral off Asan in Guam

These places become even more important for marine life as the marine environments are increasingly stripped by fishing, bottom trawling and boat mooring. Shipwrecks and explosive disposal locations practically act as protected areas – they are not national parks, but nearly any kind of human activity is restricted, says Vedenin. As a result a many of organisms that are typically rare or decreasing, such as the Baltic cod, are prospering.

Coming Considerations

Wherever warfare has taken place in the recent history, surrounding seas are typically strewn with explosives, says Vedenin. Millions of tonnes of volatile compounds lie in our seas.

The locations of these explosives are poorly recorded, partly because of international boundaries, secret defense data and the situation that documents are buried in historical records. They present an detonation and safety risk, as well as danger from the persistent emission of poisonous compounds.

As the German government and additional nations start extracting these remains, experts aim to safeguard the habitats that have developed in their vicinity. In the Lübeck Bay munitions are currently being extracted.

We should replace these iron structures left from munitions with certain safer, some harmless materials, like perhaps concrete structures, suggests Vedenin.

He presently hopes that what transpires in Lübeck creates a model for replacing habitats after munitions removal in other locations – because also the most harmful armaments can become framework for marine organisms.